Love at the beach
by DebbyHayleyBieber119
Summary: Katniss and her sister Primrose are moving to live with their uncle Haymitch after the death of their parents in an accident. The rebellious 17 year old Katniss tries to cope with her missing feeling for her old life in New York and her new life in North Carolina where she meets a charming blue-eyed and blond-haired boy. Modern AU. Characters are pretty OOC
1. WrightsVille Beach

**Summary: Katniss and her sister Primrose are moving to live with their uncle Haymitch after the death of their parents in an accident. The rebellious 17 year old Katniss tries to cope with her missing feeling for her old life in New York and her new life in North Carolina where she meets a charming blue-eyed and blond-haired boy. Modern AU. Characters are pretty OOC**

**Hey guys, this is a new story I've been thinking recently. I got this idea when I watched the Last Song's film that is created based on the novel of Nicholas Sparks, only with some changed plot line. The characters are owned by the amazing Suzanne Collins. I only own this story and the plot.**

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My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am 17 years old. I have a younger sister named Primrose. My parents are dead from an accident just a few months ago. We are moving to our uncle Haymitch's place in Wrightsville Beach, North California. Well, Haymitch isn't exactly our uncle. He's just a close friend of my late father. Since I don't think the orphanage is a good place for Prim to grow up, we've decided to live with him despite Haymitch and I don't have a very close relationship. But Prim likes him and so is he to Prim, not in a wrong way of course.

Here I am. In North Carolina. A hot, crowded city full of teenagers who love to spend their time at the beach, partying, swimming, flirting and things that God knows what. And honestly to say, I'm not one of them, but I'm also not actually the type that likes to mope around at home. I'm more like an anti-social girl who loves to wander around. I'm glad we moved here in the beginning of summer, because I don't have to think about school. Not that I think much about it; I've decided to start working and earn some money so that Prim and I can find our own place because I know that we can't rely on Haymitch forever.

Prim and I are now at the airport, waiting for Haymitch to pick us up. I look through the crowds grumpily. He knows that he needs to pick us at 12, and now it's already 2! For Christ's sake, I promise when he shows up, I'm gonna kick his ass. Prim is sitting patiently next to me; her face displays the excitement to see her favourite 'uncle'. "Isn't it exciting to see Uncle Haymitch again? We didn't see him much last year," she says.

"I don't know, Prim. All I know is that when he shows up, he's gonna get it," I tell her.

"Oh come on. We're gonna stay with him from now on. Can't you be a bit nicer?" She ask.

I just tell her, "I can't promise that."

Our luggage is lying on the floor tiles, with me guarding them with my life. Just when I'm about to hit the call button on my phone, I hear the sound of a truck coming closer. Then a familiar old red truck parks at the parking lot in front of us. A man with messy dark hair gets out of the truck, slamming the door behind him and walks towards us. He looks kind of worn out.

"Hey! How are my favourite girls doing?" Haymitch greets us with a grin on his face, holding out his arms to welcome us. We all know I'm not going to walk straight into them, and Prim jumps from her seat and jump onto his arms.

"Hi, Uncle Haymitch!" She squeals. "I've missed you so much since the last two summers."

"I've missed you too, little flower," he says. He turns his attention to me. "Hey there, sweetheart."

I roll my eyes and slide my bag strap on my shoulder. "Where have you been?" I snap. "We've been waiting for you like two hours!"

He scratches the back of his head, looking on the floor as if embarrassed to look at my eyes. "I… overslept," he mumbles.

I chuckle, not in a humor way but in annoyed way. "You overslept! Were you drinking last night?" I ask, knowing he's quite a heavy drinker at times.

"There was a huge party and I didn't want to miss it."

I shake my head and rub my temple with my fingers. I'm about to start a speech, but Prim knows things will get heated so she stops me. "Can we talk about this later, Katniss? We're still in the airport," she pleads.

I sigh. "You're right," I say, caressing her innocent, sweet face. I hear Haymitch releases a relieved breath. I glare at him. "This isn't over yet," I warn him and he shrugs.

"Come on. Let's get your bags onto the truck," he says.

We carry our luggage and dump them on his vehicle, then Prim is the first one to get onto the seat. She sits on the middle seat between me and him. The journey from the airport to Wrightsville isn't very pleasant due to the reek of alcohol in his car. I have to cover my nose the whole way even though I've lowered the side window to let the fresh air in. My sister doesn't seem to mind as she cheerfully tells Haymitch random stories about her friends and her school. I stay quiet and look at the place we're staying from now on through the window.

There are lots of souvenir shops beside the beach as well as stores selling surfboards, grocery stores and restaurants. The citizens are mostly tanned, probably because of spending too much time under the sun. I see middle aged men walking across the street with cigarettes between their fingers or their lips, teenage boys wearing only loose tank tops and a pair of three-quarter shorts, or just beach shorts, holding surfboards, whether they're really experts or they're just holding them to impress the girls who prefer wearing only bikini. Honestly to say, even without the boards, the girls will easily be swept off their feet by just looking at their naked, muscular chest.

Seriously, don't they have anything better to do instead of ogling?

I have to admit; at least the beach is able to make me slightly better. The turquoise colour of the water somehow manages to calm down the irritation I had earlier, and the surface is shining under the radiant sun like diamonds. The sky is filled with seagulls flying around. And the beach is crowded with people having fun with their friends and families. I see a family of two girls with their parents. I turn my gaze away from them because they remind me of my own family before my parents' death. I close my eyes and pretend to sleep until we arrive to our destination.

Soon I feel Prim shake my shoulder and points out to a beach house that belongs to Haymitch. It's been a while since the last time I visited this place. I think it was when I was seven or eight, I don't remember. Haymitch only came to visit us at New York to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas or just to spend some time with my family every summer. Last summer was an exception because I heard he had something important to do for the whole year. However, he did come to our parents' funeral and I appreciate him for that.

We climb off his truck and carry our bags into the house. I approach the house slowly as I stare it. It's not so bad. The front porch has a perfect view; it directly displays the beach. The wooden railings at the front porch are well in balance and look as if they were just newly repaired. The pale paint of the wall is quite clean. There's an old swing on the porch, it has been there since the last time I saw it and I'm surprised it's undamaged at all as I touch the smooth texture. I have the feeling Haymitch tries to make the house welcoming since we're gonna stay here for I don't know how long. Prim opens the door and reveals the living room. She excitedly inspects the room; the furniture is arranged neatly and surprisingly there are no dusts to be seen anywhere. She then runs upstairs where our rooms are located. I follow right behind her and when I reach the top, she's already in her room, unpacking. I enter mine which is exactly next to hers.

The room isn't too small or too big. It has a single bed, a desk and a closet that looks large enough to fit my stuff in. I check the bathroom and thank God it looks clean to me. Afterwards, I unpack my stuff and arrange everything perfectly. Knowing that my adventure spirit has risen, I grab my flip-flops and a pair of sunglasses.

Watch out, Wrightsville beach. Here I come.

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**So no Peetniss action yet. I want to see some opinion from you guys first and see if I should continue or not. If I do have enough reviews, the Peetniss action will happen in the next chapter. So as always, reviews make me smile.**


	2. Beach Boy

**Okay you guys have managed to convince me to continue. Thanks for all those reviews, now I have some inspiration to continue the story. I actually wanted to post this yesterday, but I was continuing my other story 'Hunger Games: High School Life' as well. To those who wish for Peeniss/Everlark scene, your wish is granted. Anyway, story continues here. Hope you like it.**

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I step down the stairs with my flip-flops still in my hand. Haymitch is sitting on one of the sofas, chatting with Prim who is sitting next to him. His arm wounds around her shoulder. Looking from my view, they look like real father and daughter. I shake my head, hoping the thought to go away. I've promised to myself I'll be the one who's going to take care of her since I'm her only living family left in this world. We're just staying here for a while until I get a job.

She looks up and sees me. "Where are you going, Katniss?" She asks.

"Sightseeing," I say, putting on the sunglasses.

"Don't you wanna stay for a while and grab something to eat?" Haymitch asks.

I look at the dining table and see some spaghetti served. I turn back to him. "No thanks. I think I'll just grab something along the way."

"Oh okay, then. Just don't come home late," he tells me.

I don't answer him but when Prim says, "Have fun and don't forget to buy me something." I give her a nod and a smile.

I swing the front door open and instantly feel the cool breeze blow against my skin and I smell the scent of sand. The first thing I see is the beach. Since this place is famous because of it, I might at least check on it. The last time I came here, I didn't get the chance. I put on my flip-flops and walk down the porch stairs. Once I lay my feet on the sand, I feel them sink a few inches into the sand. I keep on walking towards the beach with my average pace. When I step on the beach, my stomach grumbles so I immediately go to the nearest food stall and grab a sandwich and a can of Coke. As I walk around, eating my food, my ears have to handle with the uproar from all the cheering that comes from a beach volleyball field.

Sweaty guys are seen jumping slightly above the sand and hit the ball into the opponent's side. Girls with both blonde and dark hair are cheering loudly, clapping their hands and jumping excitedly, eyeing at which boys to flirt with tonight. Suddenly there's a loud roar from the audience, making me almost spill my drink.

I look through the crowds to see what happened. Turns out one of the teams has scored. I notice one out of two players who scored is a blonde-haired guy. He's giving his bronze-haired teammate a high-five, then a bump on the chest. Uninterested, I shake my head in annoyance and continue to wander around, sipping my Coke. I hear a disappointed 'aww' from the crowds, unconcerned I don't turn my head to look at them. Then some guy bumps onto me and we fall onto the sand simultaneously. My sunglasses drop on the sand and my drink spills at my shirt. Thank God I just finished my sandwich. I swear I'm hearing people giggling at us. Or maybe just at me. Of course, who wouldn't laugh at a stranger who wears a pair of jeans and a cardigan in a beach?

I hear him groan then his voice fills with concern when he lays his eyes on me. "Oh God. I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

I look up at the guy who bumped me and he's actually the guy who scored earlier. He has chrysocolla-blue eyes and a golden hair that shines under the sun. His skin is tanned but not too tanned and his body is quite muscular and glistened with sweat. He's wearing only a pair of black swim shorts. He's also wearing a simple leather necklace on his neck.

I wipe the sand of my arms, hair and shrug my dark cardigan off, leaving me in a sleeveless shirt, then pick up my sunglasses before I answer him and when I do, I sarcastically say, "Well, judging from my Coke-soaked clothes, yeah I'm perfectly fine."

"I'm so sorry," he says again, standing up then offers me his hand. "Let me buy you a new shirt and drink."

I stand up without taking his hand and lazily stare at him. "As much as I'd like to accept the offer, no thanks." And I walk off.

"Hey, hey, hey," he calls me while following me. "Look, I'm really sorry, okay? What can I do to make it up to you?"

I roll my eyes and turn back to him, and he stops. "Is this your way to hit on a girl? Push them so that they'll spill their drinks and you offer them new clothes and drinks? If you think I'm like any ordinary girl, think again."

He chuckles and puts his hands on his waist. "First of all, I'm not hitting on you, I'm just being nice. Secondly, I don't hit girls, _they_ hit on me. Now come on, let me buy you something."

"Wow," I say. "Pushy _and _arrogant. What else have you got?" I challenge. He doesn't answer, he simply smiles, baring his white teeth. Seriously, if he's trying to flirt with me, he gotta try harder. "Aren't you gonna go back to the game?"

He shrugs. "No. I'm calling quits for today."

So that should explain all those 'aww's earlier.

"I'm Peeta, by the way. Peeta Mellark." He gives out his hand. I take it indolently. "There's a surfing competition tomorrow and I'm joining. You coming to watch?"

"I'll pass," I tell him, putting on my sunglasses back. I turn on my heels and walk away.

"Okay. You can at least tell me your name," he says from afar.

I turn my head and yell. "It's Katniss Everdeen." I don't know why I'm telling him my name, but I have a feeling he won't let me go until I tell him.

"I'll see you around, right?" He asks, his voice sounds hopeful. I groan without turning back.

As I walk, my hands are getting sticky because of my spilled Coke. He's right; I do need a new shirt, before I get swarmed by ants. Next I take a stop on a small shop to find a new shirt. After browsing through numerous clothes, I choose a simple blue tank top.

As I'm paying for the shirt at the cash counter, someone says, "Hi, new in town?"

I look at the person and see a blonde-haired girl with fair skin, wearing a loose T-shirt and bikini panties. "Yeah," I tell her.

"I'm Delly," she continues. "What's your name?"

"Katniss."

"Nice to meet you, Katniss. Do you want me to show you around?"

I smile. "Why not?"

Before we start the tour, I change my clothes first at the store. Then she brings me around. With Delly's help, I know more about this place's direction. We go to the souvenir shop and I buy Prim a leather bracelet with a wooden-carved dolphin hanging around it. We then go to the restaurant where we eat French fries and bacon. Once our stomachs are filled, Delly brings me to one of the marinas to watch the sea. I don't realize how long we've been hanging out, until I look at my watch that shows it's already 6.

"Tonight we have a carnival near the beach, are you coming?" Delly asks as we walk back to the beach.

I remember Haymitch's warning not to come home late but since I'm already here, why not enjoy it? Besides I'm sure he knows about the carnival and probably he'll bring Prim along. "Sure. Is there anything fun gonna happen?"

"I'm not sure. But I'm sure it'll be fun," she tells me. She then hooks my arm with hers in a friendly way. "Come on, let's go."

And so we do.

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**So there you go, a bit of Peeniss/Everlark scene. I know it's just an introduction but seriously, that's one of the most important steps to start a relationship. By the way, can you guess who's Peeta's teammate? Next chapter is Gale and Madge's introduction.**


	3. Carnival

**Wooohooo! Thank you so much for the reviews. I know the previous chapter was quite similar to one of the scenes from 'The Last Songs' film. As I said, the story is based on the film so there will be some scenes that may be similar to it. But the next chapters will originally come from my idea. Anyhow, have fun reading the third chapter.**

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It's already quite dark the moment we arrive at the carnival, and fancy music fills my ears right when we step on the sand. This place kind of reminds me New York due to the colourful lights illuminate from the hanging lightings. Neon lights in various shapes like a surfboard, a fish, a shape of a guy wearing a swim shorts. They also have lightings in letters; the most obvious one is the large neon-blue accent lighting that makes up the word 'Welcome to Wrightsville Beach Carnival'. The carnival is also filled with the smell of food and cigarette.

This place is completely packed; I think everyone in the city comes here. The crowd consists of every kind of people; middle-aged men with their unkempt moustache, wearing Aloha shirt filled with flowers and three-quartered shorts, kids begging their parents to let them take a ride on a hurricane ride, or the Ferris wheel, mothers scolding their children for spilling their drinks while running, guys wearing loose tank tops flirting with girls who are wearing large unbuttoned flannel shirts that expose their bikinis and shorts. Jesus, I even notice a couple passionately making out at the back of the bumper car's stand. I avert my eyes before I see them ripping each other's clothes.

"Where do you want to go first?" Delly has to shout out in the crowd.

"I don't know! Where do you suggest?" I shout back.

"How about the animal act show?" I'm not really sure what kind of show it is, but I give her a nod anyway.

She leads to me deeper into a huge tent. I then hear a roaring sound. We manage to pass through the pack. It didn't take a long time because the viewers are keeping a safe distance from the performers. I find it reasonable because what we're watching is a lion act by some dark-haired guy and a blonde-haired girl.

"That's Gale Hawthorne and Madge Undersee," Delly whispers into my ear.

"Are they a couple?" I ask.

"You can see it too, right? They've been together for 2 years now and I hear they first met when they were working at the zoo as a summer job three years ago," she explains, though I'm not really interested.

Gale is giving orders to the lion while holding a whip in his right hand, while Madge is waiting near a large cage for the lion. He gestures his hand upwards and the lion immediately stands with its two hind legs and its forefeet close to its chest like a dog begging to its owner to feed it. He lowers his hand and the lion gets back onto its original position. He then points to a large cone and it leaps onto it and then to another one. It does this repeatedly until its trainer stops it, and it roars with pride. Some people jerk back, including Delly who clutches my arm to the point where it will get swollen. Gale then lashes his whip to the ground and the lion jumps down from the cone and walks over to its trainer and nuzzles its nose to him. Madge walks over to them and ruffles the lion's mane.

People start clapping and cheering and toss some coins into a basket. Amazed, I find myself clapping as well. Gale and Madge take a bow, ending the show and Madge takes the lion into the cage while her boyfriend keeps on bowing. People are still cheering when Delly runs over to him.

"That was awesome, Gale!" She enthusiastically says.

"Thanks Delly. Did you get scared again?" He mocks her.

"No," she lies and he stares at her for a while until she admits, "Okay, maybe a little. Oh, I want you to introduce to you my new friend."

And that's when my part takes place. I march towards them and say, "Hey, great show."

"Thanks. I'm Gale," he says, offering his hand and I take it.

"Katniss," I reply.

"Nice to meet you, Katniss."

Suddenly Madge hugs him from the back and squeals, "Hey, babe!" She then sees me and loosens her hold on him a little. "And who is this?" She doesn't make it sound rude, just curious.

"Hey, babe. This is Delly's new friend Katniss," he kisses her on the forehead and wraps his arm around her shoulders before telling her.

"Hi," I say.

"Hi there," she says back, surprisingly giving me a bear hug. I don't hug her back due to the awkwardness since I'm not really a hugger. "I'm sure we're gonna be great friends," she continues, releasing me.

"Yeah, I'm sure we will," I say with a hidden sarcasm and an awkward smile.

Delly whispers in my ear, "She's a bit too friendly." I look at her with a look saying 'You don't say?'.

"Hey, Madge and I are going to the diner to eat dinner, you guys coming?" Gale asks.

"That'll be nice," Delly agrees. "How about you, Katniss?"

Feeling a bit uncomfortable for not getting used to have friends around me, I decline. "Nah, I'll pass. You know what? I think I'll just walk around and see whatever entertainments we have here. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye," she says with a low, disappointed voice, Gale and Madge waving at me behind her. I wave back.

I push my way through the crowd again, not knowing where to go this time. That's when I notice a familiar guy with blonde hair. Peeta Mellark. He's wearing a red flannel shirt, purposely unbuttoned to expose his chest, and a pair of three-quarter shorts. He still wears the leather necklace I saw this morning. There's a girl in front of him, trying her best to flirt with him. He gives not much respond, just replying whatever she's saying to be polite. He then looks at the crowd and our eyes meet for a short time. He excuses himself and walks over to the crowd while I try to hide among the pack. I don't know why I'm avoiding him but I just do. "Sorry" "Excuse me" are the words that I spill out whenever I accidentally step on someone's foot. Finally I loose myself from them and turn around. He's not there. I sigh in relief and face forward and surprisingly he's right there in front of me.

"How did you get here so fast?" I say, bewildered.

He smirks. "Living in this city for 17 years has turned me into a pro sliding through the crowds. Were you trying to avoid me?"

"No, I was just leaving."

"No, you definitely tried to avoid me."

I sigh in aggravation. "Fine. I was avoiding you. Satisfied?" I said, crossing my arms.

"Why is that?"

"Because I have nothing to say to you."

Saved by the moment, I hear someone call my name from the crowd. "Katniss! Over here!"

I look over his shoulders and realize it's actually Prim. Never in my life have I feel so grateful to have my younger sister around. I look at Peeta. "Sorry, gotta go," I say as I walk past his shoulder, softly grazing the fabric of his shirt with my shoulder.

"You're coming to the surfing competition tomorrow, right?" He asks.

"No, probably not," I tell him. I'm pretty sure I see a little sign of disappointment on his face before I turn on my heels towards Prim. "Hey, when did you get here?" I ask her.

"A couple minutes ago. Uncle Haymitch suggests coming here since I've never been here before," she explains.

I look around. "Where is he? Don't tell me he just dropped you off like that." If he did, he's dead for leaving my 12 year old sister alone in a place where she's not accustomed to.

She pointed to a cotton candy booth on her right. And I see him ordering for a cotton candy. "He's getting me a cotton candy. Don't worry; he wouldn't leave me all by myself."

"He better be." I take her hand and guide us into the booth.

"Thank you," I hear the seller say politely to him.

He turns around and surprised to see me with Prim. "Oh, hey sweetheart. Finally we found you," he says with a large pink cotton candy in his hand.

"More like I found you first," I say coldly.

He chuckles. "Come on. Turn that frown upside down. We're in a carnival, we should have some fun," he says, trying to cheer me up and shoves the sweet stuff on my face.

I laugh. He has a good point. Since I got onto this place, I never try to lighten my mood. Prim squeezes my hand as a comforting gesture. "You're right," I say, taking a piece of the candy and put in my mouth.

Then they take a piece each and into their mouth. We then walk towards the Ferris wheel and have a ride twice. Prim was too scared during the first ride thinking that the metal on the wheel would snap and we'll fall onto the ground and she closed her eyes the whole time. I convince her that it'll be fine so she decides to have a second ride. Afterwards, we play at the archery game and I learn that Haymitch sucks in this game. He tries to shoot at the bullseyes, but often misses by a mere 5 centimeters gap. I take over and with my perfect eyesight, I hit every target and I win a purple teddy bear for Prim. We stop for a while at a restaurant for dinner and by 10, I hear her yawn.

"Should we get back home?" I ask Haymitch.

"So soon? But we haven't got into the best part yet."

"Prim's already tired."

"She'll stay awake when she sees the final show."

"What show?" Prim asks, curious.

"You'll see. Come on, let's find a spot at the beach," he says, pulling us to the beach. I notice he has a blanket in his other hand.

By the time we arrive at the beach, people already surround the whole place. Still, he manages to find an empty spot and spread the blanket on the sand. We sit next to each other and wait as we stare at the dark sky.

"What are we waiting for, Haymitch?" I ask, getting impatient.

"It's starting," he answers.

Then there's a high-pitched sound and a flash of red light. I look ahead and see a firework that has a peony effect. People's cheers start to echo, making whooping sounds, filling the night sky along with other fireworks. More fireworks shoot into the sky, replacing the previous ones with different effects like the palm, spider, and the most beautiful is the red and orange crossette. Various colours display from the fireworks, blue, purple, red, orange and even my favourite: forest-green.

Looking at other locations, I spot Gale and Madge sitting next to each other and Gale has his arm around her. Delly is seen a few meters away from them, sitting with I believe to be her family. I look on my right and realize one of the standing people is Peeta, looking up at the fireworks with his arms crossed. I almost think he's alone until I notice that he is accompanied with his bronze-haired teammate.

The show ends with a huge firework that has a rainbow colour, shaping the letters W and B, meaning Wrightsville Beach. People begin to clap when the firework disappear into nothing. Prim, Haymitch and I do the same. Afterwards, Haymitch folds the blanket away and we make our way home with a smile formed on our faces.

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**Boom boom boom! I just love fireworks, that's why I added them into the story. I hope you liked how I introduced Gale and Madge working as a lion tamer. And how cold Katniss is to Peeta. Stay patient and you'll see more Peeniss/Everlark action in the next chapters. Reviews make me smile.**


	4. Bad memory

**Hey guys, thanks so much for the reviews. Every review means so much to me. I'm so glad you liked the story so much. You guys are so amazing and awe-inspiring. Okay enough with the flattery and let's get on with the story.**

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I don't remember how I ended up in bed last night. All I remember is that the moment we stepped into the house, my heavy eyes finally gave up and closed down like curtains in theatres. I look at my digital clock on the nightstand next to my bed. The red light shows that it's already 9.45.

I sit up on my bed and realize that I'm still in the same clothes as yesterday. I feel too lazy to take a shower but I don't want to smell like hotdog and smoke. I grab my towel from my chair and head out from my room. My eyes are still tired so I'm walking on the hall with half-opened eyes. I then reach the bathroom which is located at the end of the hall and take a quick shower. After the shower, I change into a dark tank top and a pair of shorts that is short enough to expose my legs till my mid thigh. When I get out of the bathroom, I walk past Prim's room and I very slowly turn the knob and push the door open, slightly enough to peek in her room.

She's sleeping soundly on her bed. I quietly step in and walk over to her and examine her tired face. Her blonde hair is spread on her pillow, next to where her hand lays; her mouth is slightly agape which shows how exhausted she is from yesterday's long journey and the carnival. Her blanket covers her right below her shoulders so I pull it up and tuck it under her chin. She shifts a little, and then I stroke her hair softly and kiss her forehead. I get out of her room soon afterwards.

While walking down the stairs, I use my towel to dry my hair and then I notice that Haymitch is making our breakfast; blueberry pancakes. I can smell the delicious scent and immediately my mouth waters. As if sensing me on the stairs of his house, he looks up at me.

"Hey, good morning, sweetheart," he says.

"Morning," I say, surprised with my own good mood.

"Come and have some pancakes, and don't tell me you're going to grab something around the beach cuz you've missed my spaghetti yesterday." He raises a finger at me as a warning gesture, but his face doesn't have a serious look on it.

I chuckle and walk closer to the dining table. "Don't worry. I don't think I'm going anywhere today. My muscles are sore from last night," I tell him, rubbing my aching shoulder and sit down.

"Well you wouldn't feel so tired if you ate my energizing spaghetti before you left," he says, sitting down.

"Maybe, but most likely it's because of I was lacking of my energy drink." Coke is my energy drink.

"How so? I'm pretty sure they sold tons of Coke yesterday. Jeez, you can't believe how many cans I found at my backyard yesterday and I had to throw every single of them."

"Some guy bumped onto me and made me spill it," I confess, shoving the pancake into my mouth, feeling frustrated from the memory.

"Who is this guy?" He asks.

I'm not actually the type of girl who complains whatever problem she's having. But I don't see the harm of telling him, unless he's going to see this guy. That would be embarrassing, so I say, "If I tell you, just don't do anything embarrassing like complaining to his parents or whatsoever."

"Okay," he promises. Somehow I'm unconvinced and I glare at him.

"I promise," he continues, raising his hands to show me he's not crossing his fingers.

Satisfied, I give him an answer. "That guy's name is Peeta Mellark."

He coughs up his coffee, staining the table with dark spots and I immediately lose my appetite when I notice a spot on my pancake. "That Peeta boy?"

I stop chewing. "You know him?"

"Of course I do. He's a good boy. He provides charity to those who need it."

"That's all that you know?"

"Why? Are you interested in him?" He smiles a quirky smile and cocks his eyebrow.

I immediately straighten up on my chair in shock. "I am not!"

He laughs, "I'm just kidding. He's a famous surfer around the city and he has girls all around him."

"Meaning he's a playboy?"

"How should I know? I'm not his parent or something. He also works at the bakery as a part-time job. You wouldn't believe how tasty his breads are. People just hate it every time he had to quit when every summer comes to an end."

Believing I learned enough about Peeta, I take my orange juice and finish it one gulp. "Thanks for the info. I'll be in my room."

And I take off upstairs and shut my door close. I plop down on my bed and grab some magazines that I bought in New York. Flipping through the pages makes me remind my old life there. I roll over so I'm lying down my stomach. I close my eyes and sink myself into the one of the memories when I was still there.

**Flashback scene**

_I see a glimpse of myself roaming around the city at night alone. I was wearing a dark, loose cardigan over a red tank top and a pair of ripped jeans and you can see a glimpse of the skin of my knee and thigh from the holes. In my right hand, I was holding a cup of slushie from Starbucks while my left was somewhere inside my jeans' pocket. I remember I was on my home from looking for a job and Prim was at home with our babysitter, Sae. It was almost 7 months after our parents' death and a week before summer started and I was finding a way to feed her properly. As I walked forward with no destination, my loose hair bounced on my back repeatedly. And then I saw someone walking towards me wobbly, tripping on the gap between the tiles._

"_Hey, Kitty," said a drunk guy._

_I immediately registered whose voice that belonged to. It was Cato, my ex-boyfriend. He had a bottle of vodka in his hand. His smile was as creepy as a clown. I hate clowns, by the way. The last time I saw him, he had shaved but now his stubble was messy. And his bronze hair was tousled, most likely from a party, or parties he just had._

_Most of you might think what type of girl I used to be when you see this guy who used to be my boyfriend: a girl who goes out at nights to a nightclub, have loads of beer, smoke weed, take drugs, and maybe sleep with some random guy. But I wasn't that like that, but yes I did drink but not too much, just enough to quench my thirst. And my top list is NOT to sleep with anyone. Ever. _

_So yeah, Cato tried to make his way toward me who stayed where I stood at but kept on pushing on people's shoulder and he spat out words such as "Watch where the hell you're going" "Can't you fucking see me?" _

_I rolled my eyes. This was exactly why I dumped him. Yes, I dump people before they dump me. Honestly I wasn't being sincere to date him. The only reason I went out with him was simply because he was pushy. He chased me all day at school, tried to make me to take me to go school on his car and go home with him after that. Believe me, he even flirted with me when I was at my house. The only way to stop him was to accept him as a boyfriend. _

We started dating around March and we only lasted for three months until I reached my limit. He was drunk on one night after a party and I had to bring him home to his apartment. I was glad that he was so drunk at that time that he didn't realize that he spewed some truth. He told me that he only dated me because of a dare that his fellow friends made and if he managed to do so, he could have sex with Clove, a very beautiful girl but very Barbie-ish. And that was when he tried to force me to have sex with him. I remembered how good it felt to kick his dick. I then grabbed a bucket full of cold water and splashed it on his face and I ended our relationship with two simple words: Fuck you.

_After the flashback ended, he finally reached me. "What do you want?" I snapped._

_He hic-cupped, "Have a drink or two with me." He shook the bottle on my face._

_I grimaced from the scent of his body and I covered my nose. "Holy crap! When was the last time you took a shower?"_

_He hic-cupped again. "I don't know… last week? Two weeks ago?" He then smiled that creepy smile again then he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and he leaned against me. "So are you gonna drink with me?"_

_I pushed his chest hard and he wobbled backward. "Hell no!" I snapped._

"_Oh c'mon, it'll only take a couple of minutes," he insisted, reaching for me again._

_I backed away from him. "I said no. I need to go home."_

"_Why? Scared lonely, little Prim would get worried sick?"_

"_She's not alone," I told him sharply._

"_Whatever. Now c'mon."_

"_Get the hell away from me!" I shouted, shoving him so hard that he fell down on the floor. I thought he was about to get up and snap at me, instead he passed out cold, snoring heavily in the middle of New York road._

_The kindest thing I reluctantly did was calling his friend, Marvel who lived with him to pick him up. I left a note next to him that said: Make sure he takes his shower and never leave him drink alone. I then strode away and arrived at my place safely. It was then I made a decision that Prim couldn't grow up in a place like this and she needed to live in somewhere better than this. And that was when Haymitch gave a call and offered to live with him and I gladly accepted._

**End of flashback**

My phone suddenly rings, snapping me from my flashback. I grab it and read a text from Delly. I'm glad she sent this because I finally lose myself from the bad memory.

_I thought we're going to meet today. So we'll meet at the beach around 12?_

I sigh. I forgot I told her last night I'd see her today. I don't want to go to the beach because I know Peeta is going to wait for me. But I don't like breaking promises so I get up from my bed and grab my boots and put them on. I send her a reply.

_I'll be there._

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**So to make you guys less confused, Katniss and Prim's parents' accident happened around November, 7 months before the story starts (story starts during the first day of summer). She dated Cato around March and they dated for 3 months and they broke up around May and they met again during the flashback which was on the 14****th**** of June, a week before they moved in to North Carolina.**

**I hope you guys are okay with this chapter. The surfing competition scene will happen in the next chapter. Reviews make me smile.**


	5. Surfs up

***cough cough* Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. I actually wanted to update the story a few days ago, but I had a fever. And guess what? The surfing competition chapter is here. Hope you enjoy this.**

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When I look at my clock, it's already 11. My God, how long was I having my flashback? I exit my room and stomp down the stairs, heavy steps audible from my boots. I'm pretty sure I'm waking Prim up, and I feel bad for that.

"I thought you said you're not going anywhere?" Haymitch's voice comes from the kitchen. I can even hear the sound of him rinsing the dishes.

"Change of plans. Can you tell Prim that I'm off to meet Delly when she wakes up?" I tell him while braiding my hair.

"Sure. Wouldn't want our little princess to get worried about her big sister," he replies.

"And tell her that I'm sorry if I woke her up."

"What time are you coming back?"

"Soon." I guess.

Then I walk pass the living room to the front door, and then exit to the porch. I am greeted by the bright radiance of the sun and a bit of its heat, unlike yesterday when my skin was blown by a gentle and cool breeze. Without wasting anymore time, I sprint to the beach, passing people who are jogging, or riding on bikes at the beachfront. Some stalls from last night are still standing and I know exactly why: the surfing competition. I sigh in the thought of seeing Peeta again. I know that I'm avoiding him to keep away from his way to get to know me, which annoys me so much. I just hope he doesn't spot me here.

I'm standing under the shade of a coconut tree with my back leaning back against the trunk, and with my arms crossed, waiting until Delly arrives. I then see a group of guys holding surfboards and they have a proud smug each on their faces. Some of them are wearing nothing but swim trunks, while others are wearing sleeveless shirts and boardshorts according to the colours they prefer. Behind them is a stampede of squealing girls, shrieking compliments and thinks that they have in their heads like 'I wish to date him' 'Look at that hot body and those abs' and more disgusting thoughts. I roll my eyes and a grimace forms on my face as they charge towards the beach face zone. Where the hell is Delly?

Just right on time, she appears in my eyesight, staggering behind the charging girls, she looks as if she just had a hurricane ride; unbalanced and dizzy. She reaches me and pants from exhaustion, her hands are looking for something to hold on so I hold her forearms to hold her steady as her body leans forwards due to tiredness.

"Hey. Take a deep breath," I advise her calmly.

"Sorry," she gasps, rubbing her temple to ease the wooziness. "I was just on my way walking here and suddenly those rhinos started rushing forward and I got blended in among them," she explains, and then continues. "You wouldn't believe how horrible it was to get trapped among those screaming lunatics. It was like standing next to an active speaker.

I snicker. "Tell me about it, I was standing a few feet away and my ears almost blow out."

She laughs softly and then regains her balance. "So where are we going?" I ask.

She looks unsure. "Um… well… how about we hang out here first? I prefer to watch whatever activities the beach is having."

I stare at her suspiciously and point at the crowd. "You mean the surfing competition?"

She shrugs with a smile. "What's the harm?"

"Well, there's no harm, but…"

"But…?" she demands.

I give out a sigh. "There's just some guy I don't wanna see."

"Really? Who?"

"Peeta Mellark."

Her eyes widen. "Peeta? Did he do anything to you? As much as I know him, he's not a bad guy."

"He didn't do anything. It's just that he's kinda disturbing," I tell her. "Does he tend to chase girls?"

"I've known him ever since I was a kid, and I've never seen him try anything like that," she then looks as if she gets what I'm trying to say. "Oh my God, are you saying that-"

But she gets cut off by the sound of her ringtone. "Hold on," she excuses herself and turns around. "Hello? Now? But I'm with a friend here." I hear her groan. "Okay, I'll be there." She then presses the 'end' button, and turns back at me. "Bad news, Katniss. My mom just called and it turns out my family restaurant is packed and they need my help."

"Your family owns a restaurant?" I state with surprise.

"Yeah. I didn't get to tell you that last night. I work there as a waitress." That suddenly gives me an idea. I've decided to come here not just to make a new home, but to look for a job as well. So I take this opportunity to ask her.

"Do you have a room for vacancy?"

"I guess so. Why do you ask?" She asks curiously.

"Do you think you can hire me? I need a job."

"Maybe, I'll ask my parents first," she says but still standing there, looking hesitant.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Go. You wouldn't want to let the customers starve," I tell her, motioning her to go.

"Will you be fine on your own?" She asks guiltily.

I give her a nod. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Now go."

With that she turns around and starts running to where she comes from. I make a 'pfft' sound between my lips, and look at the crowded beach. I know I shouldn't go there, but there's something inside me keeps on yelling to go there. I berate at myself for a while until I hear his voice.

"Hey, Katniss."

Shit. I grunt quietly and take a deep breath before I turn around. I'm surprised at myself even though I'm saying this to myself, but he looks more… good looking than the last time I saw him.

His golden hair looks as if it's glowing under the sunlight, and his bangs are hanging in front of his sky blue eyes that are actually sparkling. In his right hand, between his right arm and torso is an orange surfboard that has a black swirling design on the nose. As he jogs towards me, I can't help myself from admiring his body; muscled pectorals and biceps but not too muscled, well-defined abdomen. His black swimming shorts is loosely tied by a cotton string, hanging deliciously a bit lower than his hips- wait a minute! What?! No I shouldn't think like this! I slap my cheeks with so much force that I'm starting feel a bit woozy.

He's right in front of me before I know it. "I'm glad you came," he says. I can tell he's telling the truth by just looking at his eyes. I don't know how, but I can see honesty in them. "Though you said you might not be coming," he adds jokingly, flashing that teeth-baring smile again. "By the way, why did you slap your cheeks?"

I answer him quickly, "Nothing." I then add, "I didn't come here to watch the surfing competition. I actually came with Delly."

"So where is the young lady?" He asks, teasingly looks around though he knows that she's not here.

"She has something to do." Silence comes afterwards as he looks at me, waiting for me to continue. "I'll just go home."

I start to turn around but something holds my wrist, which turns out to be his free hand. "Wait," he says. "If you don't have any plans, why don't you come with me?"

I look at him suspiciously and loosen his grip on my wrist. "Why do you keep doing this? Trying to get to know me?"

"Is it wrong to make new friends?"

"Well no, but… I'm not much for a friend."

"That's for me to decide," he simply replies.

"Fine. And just to remind you, this isn't a date, Mellark," I warn him, crossing my arms.

He raises his hands in surrender. "Call it what you want."

We walk side by side but I keep my distance from him. It doesn't help, however, because eyes are staring at us since Peeta keeps on starting conversations and I can't help but answer every question he shoots from his mouth. To assist me from seeing the spectators' eyes, I pull out my sunglasses from my pocket and tuck the temples behind my ears.

He leads us to a spot close to the water. As I sit on one of the beach chairs, he plunges his surfboard's tail into the sand and makes sure it's well-balanced, and creates a shade for me.

Seeing that my sunglasses is kind of useless, I take them off. "Thanks," I say with a smile.

He says, "Your welcome. I'll get us something to drink." With that he leaves to the nearest drink stall.

I watch my surroundings slowly to fill the time. Gentle air blows slowly that I can barely feel it under the hot sun. The white sand has trails of random shapes of footsteps. Waves are forming from the water, creating blue, curved shapes, slowly lowering into smaller sizes as they reach the shore. From the new waves, I can see surfers ride the waves expertly.

Next to me is a group of crowds consist of both boys and girls around my age. All of them are cheering for some guy with bronze hair. I realize he's Peeta's teammate I saw yesterday. Girls are squealing over him and hopping excitedly while clapping their hands. Guys start cheering for him, hooting as he gracefully slides the wave.

"Give it up for Finnick Odair!" I hear a guy announces with a bullhorn from a lifeguard chair. And a loud roar of cheer explodes.

"I see you've seen Finnick, huh?" says a voice behind me.

I jump in alert and realize it's only Peeta. "Mellark! Don't jump on me like that," I scold him but he finds it funny and chuckles.

"Sorry. I didn't know you were too busy ogling on him," he says, leaning back to his chair and hands me a Coke. I look at him. "That's as a replacement for yesterday's Coke," he informs.

This time I chuckle. "Thanks. And I wasn't ogling on him." I take a sip and he does the same with his lemonade. "So who's Finnick?"

"He's my best buddy and teammate in beach volleyball and a surfer, quite good if you ask me. He works as a model for advertisements. As you can see ladies are so into him," he tells me.

I can see why, he has an amazing body, more amazing than Peeta's actually, though Peeta's body is too much for me to keep my eyes from. I hate to admit it but it's true.

"Hey, Peet!" Someone calls behind me.

Finnick walks towards us while flipping his wet bronze hair to his right, which sweeps the girls behind him off their feet.

"What's up, Finn?" Peeta greets him with a fistbump.

"It was awesome. I have a feeling I'd get to the semi-finals."He flashes a smile when he sees me. "Well hello there, beautiful. The name's Finnick," he says flirtatiously. I give him an awkward smile.

"I'm Katniss," I tell him.

He then takes my hand and kisses it. "It's a pleasure to such a graceful lady like you."

"Knock it off, Finn. You already have a girlfriend," Peeta scolds him, playfully hitting the back of his head.

"What? It's just my normal way to greet a beautiful girl," he replies, rubbing the back of his head. "And it's not fair for not introducing me to this beauty."

"Dude. I just knew her yesterday," Peeta states.

"Still, you could've sent me a word or something," Finnick insists.

"I'm surprised how Annie doesn't get suspicious about your loyalty for her."

"Hey, I may be a player, but I'm a keeper when it comes to serious relationships." He pretends to hurt by putting his hand on his heart. Peeta looks at him suspiciously.

"Alright, maybe before Annie. So can we drop it?"

Just when Peeta raises his hands in surrender for the second time today, the guy from the lifeguard chair announces, "And now, the ocean belongs to the awesome Peeta Mellark!" And a louder roar of cheering bursts.

I look at Peeta and he stands up and pulls out his surfboard. "Sorry, Katniss. I want to spend more time with you, but can you wait for me til my turn is over?" He asks.

"Yeah sure," I say before thinking.

He gives me smile and runs off towards his fans.

"So you and Peeta, huh?" Finnick says as he sits Peeta's seat.

"Huh? What? No, we're just… acquaintances," I stagger, not knowing what exactly to refer Peeta and I are. I mean we just met yesterday.

Finnick cocks his eyebrows in a curious way. "Well can't blame any of you. He's a complete package. You know that right?"

I do now. A food provider, friendly and kind, athletic, and popular. What else could a girl want? Except me, maybe. I'm not into relationships, especially with the popular guys even though I dated Cato a few months ago and the result was a bruised dick.

I then hear more cheering when I see Peeta steadily rides the inner part of the wave, putting his hand into the wall of water, ducking his head from touching the water above him as water falls behind him. He then slides in all directions, upwards, downwards, and backwards without getting himself wet. And I can't stop myself from watching him. Especially when he makes his final move; he slides upwards before the wave breaks off and he does a flip, and then dives into the water.

My 'wow' sinks under the yell of cheers. I then clap my hands as he surfaces and somehow he has his surfboard close to him even though it has no leash on it. He walks towards shore and immediately to where Finnick and I are sitting. His right arm raises and his hand pushes back his wet, blonde bangs which makes his hair tidy.

"Not bad, Peeta," I say, obviously lying because his performance was amazing.

"Why thank you. Looks like I received more rewards than I expected." I make a confused look. "You praised me _and_ just called me by my name."

I guess I did. "You earned it," I say with a smile.

"Thanks," he says again.

Finnick makes a whistling sound behind us. "I can see someone hardly gets her eyes off someone," he teases.

"It's just a compliment, Finnick," I spit at him.

"But it means a lot to me," Peeta admits but quickly adds, "As a start to make friends of course."

Soon I hear my stomach grumble. I hold it to cover the noise but it looks like it's too late because both of the boys are bursting out laughing. I bite my lower lip to hold the embarrassment.

"How about we grab some something for lunch?" Peeta offers.

I couldn't agree more.

* * *

**I seriously have no idea how it feels like to spend time at the beach or under the sun (I'm an indoor type), not to mention how it feels like to surf and I actually have never people surf in front of me (except from television of course) so I hope what I wrote was quite graphic. **

**So do you like the starting of Peeniss/Everlark relationship? Looks like Katniss starts to look at Peeta's body more than the last time. I sometimes feel like kicking myself for adding Finnick. But I can't help myself; he's just too hot to be hidden. Reviews make me smile.**


	6. The bet

**Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting. My God, I haven't updated for two weeks D: I've been out of the country a few days ago for vacation, and I bought a graphic tablet which I kept practicing on. Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews. I'm glad you liked the surfing scene. And for the next chapter, we have a scene where Peeta and Katniss have a walk beside the beach. *wink wink* Have fun reading!**

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Finnick says that he's not hungry yet so he decides to stay at the beach and wait for his girlfriend Annie, so after Peeta changes into a new pair of cargo pants and an orange sleeve-less shirt, we make our way to a restaurant, the one he assumed the best.

When we reach the door, Peeta acts as a gentleman and opens it for me and lets me in first. The restaurant is crowded, but we manage to take a table next to a window, I take a seat beside the window, and he sits on a seat across the table so he faces me.

"So," he starts. "What school do you attend?"

"I used to attend Bayside High," I tell him.

"Used to?"

"I decided to quit and start working," I confess.

"What? Why? Don't you think you still have lots of things ahead of you?" Peeta says with so much concern in his tone.

"Why does it matter to you?" I snap unintentionally. God, what's wrong with me? He's just being considerate. "I'm sorry. That was rude," I apologize and turn my gaze at the menu.

"No, I'm sorry. What I asked was a bit personal," he says, shyly looks away to the open window.

"It's actually fine. I wasn't gonna keep it as a secret anyway," I confess.

An awkward silence comes right after I finish my sentence. Luckily, the waitress comes and is ready to take our order. I order for fish and chips and he orders the same.

"So what are your plans?" He continues, but somehow hesitantly.

"I decide to start working so that my sister and I can live somewhere else. I don't want to rely on Haymitch forever."

"Where will you live after that?"

"I don't know. Maybe somewhere close because Prim would get upset for leaving him all by himself again."

"You have a nice sister," he praises.

"Thanks," I say before shoving the chips into my mouth. "How about you? What's your plan?"

He sighs. "Well," he pauses. "I don't know. But my dad wants me to continue studying." Then he cuts his fish into smaller pieces and shoves one into his mouth.

I nod and chew my chips in my mouth. He was right when he said this restaurant provides the best food, this tastes good. The taste of the potato is delicious and the amount of salt is just perfect to make my taste buds dance. I find myself finishing them so quickly that one time my plate is full of them, and now it's completely empty.

Peeta notices me staring at his plate, wanting some more of his chips. He smiles cockily and pierces one of his chips with a fork and raises it to my mouth.

"Say 'ahh'," he says jokingly.

I cock my eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"I know you want my chips, and I'm offering one to you," he says.

"No I'm not!" I deny although I know that I'm lying.

"Really? Because I'm sure you're drooling right now," he teases, using his fork to point at my chin.

I put a hand on my jaw and I feel a slight wetness on it. I bite my lip and feel my cheeks burn. Shit, this is embarrassing. I never drool in front of people before.

He laughs softly, more in a humorous way instead of mocking. As if reading my mind, he says, "Don't get embarrassed. It's not like you're the only one who has drooled in front of someone."

"Meaning you have?" I ask, trying to hide my blush by looking at my folded hands on my lap.

"Of course I have but don't ask when. Now, are you gonna eat it? My hand won't last long, you know."

I take a while to think but what the hell? My taste buds crave for those chips so I open my mouth and he slowly puts the fork into it. He smiles wider and gently pushes his plate close to mine. I quickly use my fork and eat every one of the chips, leaving his fish. I actually want to take it as well but I feel kind of greedy to take all of his food.

"Eat it," I order him.

"Make me," he challenges me, crossing his arms.

I smirk. Two can play in this game. I pierce a large piece of his fish and shove it into his mouth. Take that!

He chews and finally swallows. "I think I want another piece."

"Take it yourself."

"But I want you to do it for me," he whines a bit loud like a little kid.

People from other tables are looking at us with amused smiles on their faces and their eyes are filled with eagerness to see my reaction. I have no choice but feed him. I find myself actually grinning by looking at his puffy face as I fill his mouth.

After finishing his food, we leave the restaurant and we visit the museum and look through random stuff that I find both interesting and boring, depending on what they are. However the history of this place is surprisingly manages to attract my interest, especially about the hurricane that crashed on 1954. We browse the whole museum after he buys me a t-shirt though I insist that I don't need it.

When we leave the museum, he takes me to Johnny Mercer's pier. He challenges me to race him to the third street light on the pier, saying that exercising is good after eating. I warn him that I'm quite a fast runner, but he scoffs by saying that my stomach may be too heavy because it's filled with both his and my chips and it'll slow me down. That really makes me feel more challenged. I take my boots off so that my feet feel lighter and put the plastic bag containing the shirt aside.

We crouch like runners in running tracks except that we're on top of a concrete floor. Despite that some locals and tourists are staring at us, I find myself not caring about it. Peeta starts counting and on three we sprint towards the goal.

He's right when he says that I'm too filled to beat him because he's already in front of me in the middle of the race. Due to my stubbornness, I refuse to give up and quicken my pace, feeling the cool air that touches my skin as I run faster, and finally I manage to catch up. We're in the same pace as we're a few meters away from the goal where a lifeguard who Peeta asked him to measure our time to determine the winner, and he's holding two stopwatches in his hands.

Finally we reach the goal and I hear a clicking sound from the stopwatches. Both of us pant and the lifeguard walks over to us. He announces that Peeta wins exactly at the time of 4 minutes and 59 seconds and I lose in mere five seconds gap.

I groan and roll my eyes, frustrated that it's because of his offer to finish his food that I lost. And I really hate losing. He thanks the lifeguard and walks over to me.

He sees my scowl and gives me a sympathetic smile. "Hey, don't be mad. You were close to beat me."

"But not close enough," I retort, looking away from him.

He sighs. "What can I do to make you feel better?"

I keep silent to think properly. What should I make him do? I'm looking at the ocean in front of me. The sound of flying seagulls fills my ears and the sun is in its way to disappear shows that it's already late afternoon. And that's when I have an idea. I turn back to face his questioning look. "Meet me at the beach front at 9 tonight."

His eyes open wide in shock. Well of course anyone would get shocked. I never, I repeat, _never_ has asked anyone to meet me with no particular business, especially to someone I just knew. I don't know why I'm acting like this, but something about him makes me want to know more about him and I want to hang out with him again.

"Okay, sure," he agrees without even bothering to ask why.

"Good. I'll see you later then." I walk pass him and grab the plastic bag that lies next to the railing.

"Wait!" He calls and runs to me. "Can I send you home? It's pretty far away from your house and it'll take a while if you just walk."

"So I'll just take a cab," I simply say.

"I'll give you a ride."

"With what?" I look at him uncertainly.

"Come with me," he replies and gestures for me to follow him.

We go back to the gift shop that is connected to the pier, go down the stairs and he leads us to the parking lot. Among the parked cars, I see a dark blue Suzuki motorcycle with shiny metal parts. On the seat, there's a black helmet. He goes to it as I'm stuck at the empty road, completely stunned.

"When and where did you get that?" I ask with obvious shock tone.

"Clearly you were too busy listening to the history of Hurricane Hazel that you didn't realize that I went out for a while to grab my bike from the beach's parking lot," he answers as-a-matter-of-factly, and then starts the engine and sits on the seat.

The sudden rattling sound of the engine makes me jump and I'm standing with the plastic bag clutched tightly against my chest. From other people's point of view, I look like a shy girl who is hesitant whether to climb on a motorcycle with an attractive young man.

Peeta laughs at my reaction and gives me warm, convincing smile. "Well, are you going to stare like that forever?"

I don't answer. Instead, I walk closer to him silently, I can't deny that I'm nervous and excited because I have never ride on a motorcycle before. Carefully, I hop on the seat, straddling the vehicle behind him and put on the helmet that he hands to me. After putting on the chinstrap, he laughs as he looks back at me.

"Put your arms around me," he orders, but not in a rough demanding way.

I realize that my hands are lying flat on the seat on a space that I make between our bodies. I blush and thank God because of the helmet, he can't notice it. I hesitantly wrap my arms around his torso and clutch onto his shirt tightly, but I still keep our bodies from touching.

"Ready?" He asks and I nod.

He leans forward and holds the clutches tightly, and then shifts the gear and the bike moves forward, surprising me and fear consumes me as the foreign feeling of adrenaline rushes into me and I pull my body closer to his and hold on to him for dear life.

I can't describe how the journey looks like because I keep my eyes sealed. The next thing I notice is that he has brought me safely to Haymitch's house. I slowly get down from Peeta's bike, trying to regain my balance from the adrenaline.

"Thanks for the ride. Don't forget about tonight," I remind him when I return his helmet. He gives me a nod and a promising smile before wearing the helmet and he drives away.

"Who's that?" I hear a voice behind me and see both Prim and Haymitch looking at me intently.

Prim seems to be surprised to see someone sent me home with a bike while Haymitch gives me a teasing grin and I glare at him. I spend the rest few hours by telling Prim where I went this morning and told her about Peeta.

"He sounds nice," she says, nodding.

"He is," I tell her.

She suddenly asks with a grin on her undeniably cute face, "Are you going to see him again?"

"Why do you assume that?" I ask back.

"I have a feeling that you like him."

"I am not. As a friend, yes. But not like as in, life for… something more than a friend," I stammer. Although I know that I'm seeing him again tonight.

She looks at me suspiciously. "Really? How about you and I make a bet?"

"What bet?"

"I'll bet that you and Peeta will be more than friends in less than two weeks."

I make a 'pfft' sound. "Okay, this is ridiculous. I only knew him yesterday and there's no way he's gonna be more than a friend to me. But I accept. So what's the price if I win?"

"If I win, you get a boyfriend and if I lose, I'll do all the chores for a week," she dares with a smug smile.

"Two weeks."

"Deal."

And we shake hands, sealing the bet.

"And Prim, I'm seeing him tonight,

" I tell her, confident that I'll win the bet because when I broke up with Cato, I promised to myself I will never have a date with a guy anymore.

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**Okay so Katniss has learned to accept Peeta as a friend and that's quite a big step for their relationship. Yay! And apparently Peeta likes to tease her, I hope you're fine with that. As you can see Prim's making a bet with Katniss, and apparently this chapter is too good to end in only one chapter, so I decide to make a second part. Don't worry, I promise I'll make it fast. Reviews make me smile.**


	7. Sneaking out

**Hey all! Chapter 7 is here! Enjoy one of the precious moments of Peeniss/Everlark *acts like Gollum 'My precious'* I have a bad news to tell you. School is starting in tomorrow so I'm not sure when I'm going to update the next chapter so please bear with me. You know how tough school is during the first day and the day after that. Anyway, let's put that aside for a while and hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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Around 7, I look through my new drawer for something to wear tonight. Usually I'm not the type of girl who cares what she's wearing but somehow I feel like it tonight. While rummaging through my clothes, I found my red tank top, my forest-green flannel shirt, my thin orange jacket, a pair of denim shorts, and my favourite pair of ripped jeans. I sigh in aggravation, still can't decide which one I should pick, putting my palm on my forehead and push my loose hair back. I then turn around to see my room is in a mess as if it was crashed by a tornado.

I hear a knock on my door and step over a pile of clothes and open it. Prim stands behind it with a curious smile.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

I wipe a streak of sweat on my forehead and blow an exasperated sigh. "Looking for a shirt to wear tonight."

"Hmm," She hums and steps into my room slowly and then towards my bed where lays the plastic bag that has the shirt that Peeta bought me in it. She looks through the bag and pulls the blue shirt out.

"How about this? Where did you get this anyway?"

"Peeta bought it for me," I tell her honestly.

"It looks pretty comfy to wear, and makes you more blended in. You should wear this," she suggests.

I put a hand on my hip. "I don't know. It's not really my style."

"Come on. I'm sure he'll be pleased to see you wear something that he bought for you," she insists, jumping up and down like a little kid. "And besides, I don't think you'd find anything from these piles of clothes."

Her suggestion sounds more suitable if I were his girlfriend. But I take a second glance on that T-shirt and my messed up room. Damn, my sister is good. It sure will make me look less of a stranger in this place. It has an animated beach picture on it and a few words implying that Wrightsville is the best place to spend at.

I take the shirt gently from her and sigh. "Okay. I'll just wear this then. And by the way, don't tell Haymitch about this."

"Why not?"

"I don't want him to check up on me once I'm out. You know how protective he can be." Or meddling.

I begin to recall what happened two years ago. I sneaked out to a party (not because I really wanted to go, I was just simply bored) during one of his visits and unknowingly he actually followed me, believe it or not. When I arrived at the party, he showed himself to me and totally embarrassed me at the party by telling me that I wasn't old enough to go to a party all by myself and he made me leave the party. If getting scolded my parents wasn't humiliating enough, the next day, I was the biggest clown in school.

"Yeah. I know that," Prim says, nodding. "So what should I do when he asks about you tonight?"

This is the first time I'm making my innocent sister to lie to someone for me to sneak out, so I feel pretty guilty about it. But at the same time, she looks eager to do so.

I tell her while packing my thrown clothes into my dresser except for my denim shorts, "Well, you can tell him that I have a headache and need to stay in bed."

"Typical idea but I guess it'll work and I don't think he'll dare to check you up," she agrees.

"Good. Now I need your help for sneaking out tonight."

And so she accompanies me to the storeroom and take some of Haymitch's stuff.

During dinner which is around 8, we eat quietly in the dining room. Prim takes a glance at me once in a while, waiting for my signal to start our plan. I give her a slight shake of my head while Haymitch isn't watching. When I think that it's the perfect time, I pretend to lose my appetite and put my fork of salad down on my plate and start to rub my temple while making a grimace.

"What's wrong?" He asks in worry, putting his fork down as well.

"Nothing. Just feeling a bit dizzy," I say mumble between my gritted teeth.

Prim stands up from her chair. "Should I get some paracetamol for you?"

"No, thanks. I think I'll just lie on my bed and get some rest," I murmur, standing up wobbly.

She walks over to me and grabs my arm to steady me. She then gives me a wink and I wink back at her.

"You take your sister upstairs and look after her for a while. I'll clean up the dishes," he tells us.

Prim nods and we slowly make our way to the stairs. When we feel the coast is clear, we walk a bit faster towards my room. She closes the door quietly and then goes to my window while I start changing from my sweater and pants to the shirt Peeta bought me and my denim shorts.

"Is the rope ready?" I ask, re-braiding my hair.

"Yeah and it's strong enough for you to get down," she whispers, pulling on the rope that is tied on the window rail.

"All right. Now just stick to the plan, okay?" I whisper back to her as she walks back in. I remind her, "And don't forget not to lock my window." She gives me a thumb up.

I grab my sling bag that contains my jacket in case I get cold and some snacks and hang it on my shoulder. Not that I'm expecting some kind of picnic but since I didn't eat much tonight, I might as well get hungry. Very carefully, I straddle the window rail and grab hold the rope tightly and slowly move down by keeping my feet on the wall. I keep my eyes on the ground below me. And Prim is carefully looking down at me, holding on the rope as well. She doesn't know that I've done this a few times back when we were in New York when our parents were still alive. I think she knows now, seeing that I'm doing it pretty well.

Finally, I manage to descend on Haymitch's backyard silently. I tug on the rope and Prim quickly pulls it upwards and rolls it.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," I whisper.

She nods. "Okay. Be safe."

I creep out from the backyard through the rusty back gate and begin jogging to the beach front where I promised to meet Peeta. Unlike the previous night when I was in the carnival where there was little wind, tonight the beach is quite windy as I pace on the concrete pathway. That's when I notice a familiar blue bike parked beside a bench. I immediately know the owner when I see a guy with a blonde hair.

He is wearing a black leather jacket over a simple sky-blue shirt and a pair of dark jeans and a pair of red Converse sneakers. He is leaning back on his motorcycle with his arms crossed against his chest as he looks around. When he sees me, he flashes a content smile when he realizes I'm wearing this shirt.

"Hey," he says.

"Hey. Are we going to have a ride or something?"

"Well, I have a feeling that you haven't seen the town during the night, so how about I show it to you?" He explains and hands me his helmet. This time he has an extra one for himself.

"Good idea. But I'm not properly clothed for riding," I reason, gesturing at my clothes.

"Who cares about what you wear. You look perfectly fine," he insists, touching the shirt's collar line.

I make a doubtful face.

"Will it make you feel better if you wear my jacket?"

Maybe it will since it's a leather jacket, and it looks suitable for riding. So I nod quietly. Then he shrugs it off his shoulders and hands it to me. I put the helmet on his bike's seat first then I push my arms through the sleeves which are too long for me. I pull the zipper to my chest and I'm immediately surrounded by his scent from the jacket which smells like a mixture of cinnamon, dill and sand.

I don't wait for him to say anything when I grab his helmet and straddle his bike. I smirk at him, repeating the words he said to me earlier today, "Well, are you going to stare like that forever?"

He laughs softly and put his left leg over the vehicle to straddle it in front of me, putting the helmet on. I put my arms around his torso without him telling me to do it when he starts the engine.

"Where do you wanna go first?" He has to say that out loud due to the noise.

"Wherever you feel like going," I reply as loud as he is.

He nods then looks forward and slides the face shield down. He kicks on the ground and we start to move forward. We ride along the pathway of the beach front and then to the town. We go from one street to the next and we don't stop as I'm too busy looking at the lights in the city at night. Unlike in New York, the lights of the city show the busy the streets are. But the lights in this place have a different effect. They give relaxation and content.

I stay silent as I enjoy looking at them, unconsciously holding on Peeta's body tighter against mine. He chuckles, and I can feel the vibration of his body from his laugh.

He pushes his face shield upwards with one hand while the other holds the handlebar. "You want to stop by and eat something?" He asks.

"No thanks, I have some stuff in my bag," I tell him after raising my face shield.

He nods and stops his bike when the traffic light goes red. He looks back at me.

"What do you think? Does New York look better than this?"

"Well, I can't deny that New York has more lights and it's so much brighter. But I like it here better because the streets are less noisy than my old home, and it's not as busy as New York is," I murmur.

By the time I finished talking, the light goes green and he revs his bike.

"I'm glad you like it so far. But there's more to see later on." With that he shuts his face shield and moves us forward, leaving me questioned.

He leads us back to the beach and he parks his bike a bit farther from other people who hang out at the beach. We walk on the sand with a slow pace. I wrap my arms around myself when a cool breeze blows. At night, the beach is only shone by the moonlight. Waves in the sea are washing quite strong. I hear a few hoots from some teenagers behind us who are cheering for their friend who is night surfing.

"Doesn't he feel cold surfing at night?" I ask Peeta in front of him.

"Ah," he sighs. "You mean Thresh? Pfft, he can even stand naked during winter."

"That's pretty awesome." Or stupid. "But isn't it dangerous to surf at night? I mean you can barely see anything and what about the sharks?" I ask, getting worried for that surfer.

"Thresh has been doing this for a long time. I even heard when he was born, he learnt to surf before he could even walk. And don't worry about the sharks. The lifeguards have confirmed that the beach is pretty clear of them for a few nights."

I can't help but feel relieved listening to that. At least I won't see any blood in the water tonight, though I can barely see it. Anyway, Peeta sits down on the sand with his legs spread towards the water. I'm not sure if I should sit with him or not.

"Come on, sit beside me," he invites me with a sweet voice.

I comply with him and do as he says. I don't know how his magic works, but it's affecting me like the other girls, much to my dismay. The sand feels soft under my ass and my bare legs and it feels so comfortable. I look at him and notice that he's looking up to the stars above us.

He points one with his finger. "You see that one? The shiny one over there?"

I look up as well and try to find which star he's pointing at, and I soon I notice a big, shining star.

"That's the Arcturus star," he points out. "And next to it is the Corona Borealis." His fingers move to a smaller star that is located at the left side of Arcturus star, and then to another one. "And below it is the Serpens Caput."

My curiosity builds and I can't stop myself from asking. "How much do you know about this stuff?"

His fingers fall to the sand as he leans backwards, supported by his hands. "I don't know every name of the stars. I learnt some of the names from my dad when I was a kid. We used to stargaze like this a few years back. But we don't have so much time to do that anymore."

I hear the disappointment in his voice and I have the feeling he used to be so close with his father. "How come?"

"Well," he sighs again, scratching his already messed up hair. "He's pretty busy with his business lately and since I'm growing up, I think I need to find something else to do instead of stargazing."

"So that's why you work at the bakery?" I blurt out.

He turns to me with a suspicious look. "How do you know that?"

"Words spread quickly," I simply say.

He looks back to the ocean and continues, "Yeah. But I don't work there just because it's something that I use to spend my time. I like to do something for people. And looking at the kids' smiling faces whenever they walk past the bakery to look at the cakes."

"You decorate the frostings on the cakes?" I say, amazed.

"Sometimes I do the baking, sometimes I do the frosting."

"That's really amazing."

I can see his blushes even from the moonlight. "It's not that hard to bake and frosting. A few practices and you'll be fine."

"Like surfing?"

"Surfing takes longer practice, of course." He looks at me with his blue eyes filled with expectation. "Would you like to try? I can teach you the basics."

Learning to surf isn't in the list of things I want to achieve, but I don't see the harm.

"That should be interesting. When do we start?"

"I can't tomorrow because I have a full shift at the bakery. But I'm free the day after tomorrow."

"That should be fine since I'm looking for a job at Delly's restaurant."

He's surprised at my confession. "You're working at her place?"

"Well, not yet actually. I'm still waiting for her parents' permission first."

As if on cue, my phone vibrates in my shorts' pocket and I pull it out to read a text from Delly.

_Great news, Katniss. I told my parents about your application for vacancy, and they said we need an extra waitress. Which means you're in for the job XD_

I smile while looking at my phone and show the screen to Peeta and he smiles with me.

"Congratulations. Too bad we don't have anything to celebrate with," he says.

I raise an eyebrow. "Who says?" And pull out the snacks I packed in my bag.

His eyebrows rise in surprise. "You already planned for this?"

I playfully shove his shoulder. "Oh shut up. I prepared this in case I get hungry."

After that we finish the crackers and drinks in a few minute and then we decide to take a walk beside the water side by side, with bare feet.

"So," I start. "What do you think of me as a friend?" I ask, remembering the words I said earlier today at the beach.

"I think you're actually a great person to befriend with, even though you said you're not much of a friend," he replies.

I can't surpass the smile that forms on my mouth when I hear him say those words.

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**I don't know anything about the position of stars, I just read some articles about it so I'm not sure if the positions are correct or not. And I know the ride in town and walk beside the beach scenes are short (since I don't know how to describe the town and imagine their conversation), so I decide to add the stargazing and picnic scene. I really hope you're satisfied with that. Reviews make me smile.**


	8. Showtime

**A thousand apologies for leaving you guys hanging for a month to wait for this chapter. I really wanted to update the story, but I'm just too focused on my other story 'Hunger Games: High School Life'. I'll try my best to update as frequent as possible. So anyway, hope you like it.**

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After the night walk, Peeta takes me back home around 11. He tries to drives his bike as quite as possible to the backyard and apparently he succeeds because Haymitch doesn't come out bursting with rants.

I hop off the motorcycle and return the helmet back to him. I'm hesitant to take his jacket off because it's too comfortable and the delicious smell is still lingering on it but I take it off anyway."Thanks for taking me out."

"You're welcome," he says, grinning. "So I'll see you by the beach the day after tomorrow?" Under the moonlight, I somehow manage to see his eyes glimmering in excitement.

"Sure. Meet you by 10?" I suggest, slinging my bag on my shoulder.

"Okay. Goodnight, then." He then revs his bike and makes his way back to the concrete pathway.

I walk below my balcony. I'm glad I gave my old phone to Prim since I knew in her age, she'd need one, I text to her.

_Roll down the rope._

I hit sent. I wait for a while, and then I hear a creaking sound above me and then she appears with her blue pajamas. She picks up the rope next to the railing and throws it downwards. It takes about 4 minutes for me to climb back in, and when I did, she attacks me with questions.

"So how did it go? Where did he take you? Did you have fun? Does he like you? Do you like him? Have you ki-?"

I stop her by putting my palm against her mouth. "Whoa. Hold your horses and just let me in first, please?"

After rolling and untying the rope, I go back in to my room and lock my window. I plop my bag on my bed and I find myself on it as well, completely exhausted.

Prim jumps on the bed and is immediately beside me, propped by her elbows so that her face is above mine.

"Can you please tell me now?" She says annoyingly cute.

I sigh. "Everything went surprisingly great. He took me around the town and then we had a night picnic by the beach."

"Did you enjoy it?" She demands.

"A little," I know that I'm lying. I didn't enjoy it _a little._ I actually enjoyed it more than I should. Talking with Peeta was quite fun and made me want to talk more. I'm just glad we somehow managed to look at the time and I decided to go home.

"Do you think he'll ask you to go out again?"

I tell her, "He said he's going to teach me how to surf."

"But you don't like surfing," she states.

"I know. But I did technically say yes."

Her smile spreads widely till it reaches her eyes. I cut her off before she can say whatever she thinks. "Not because I like him or anything. I just find it interesting, that's it."

She looks disappointed but then goes back to her curious face. "But does he like you?"

I suddenly remember how his eyes shine in enthusiasm with the idea of seeing me again, but that doesn't mean anything, does it?

I simply shrug her question with a yawn. I rub my eyes. "I need to sleep."

She pouts and shakes my shoulder with both of her hands. "Aww! I wanna hear more!" She gripes.

I bring a finger to my lips and shush her. "You'll wake Haymitch up!" I hiss. "I'm just tired. I'll tell you more tomorrow."

"Promise?" She asks with her cute, big eyes.

I pat her cheek tenderly. "Promise."

With that she climbs down the bed and steps toward my door, she stops by the switch and sweetly says, "Goodnight, Katniss."

I tuck myself under my quilt and reply drowsily, "Night." She flicks the switch and I'm immediately surrounded with darkness and my eyes slowly lock themselves and I fall to a deep sleep.

The next morning, I'm awakened by the sound of tweeting birds and my alarm from my phone. As much as how I want to go back to my dreamland, I know I have to get up because today's my first day at work and I don't wanna be late.

I slip off the bed and get into the shower and wash myself up. Not long after that, I get out of the shower and wear something decent for my first day at work: a green polo t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, and then I braid my hair neatly. I pack some sunscreen and a pair of sunglasses in my backpack.

Then I get out of my room and walk down the stairs in a steady pace. As I expected, Haymitch is already in the dining room, preparing breakfast.

He looks up to me and a surprised expression is clear on his face. "Isn't it a bit early for you to be awake? It's just 8 in the morning," he says, glancing at the clock on his rotten wall. "Too early for someone who had a headache, actually," he says again, suspiciously.

I shrug. "I guess that's the magic of a good night sleep. It cures everything within one night."

"You look pretty decent. Going somewhere again?"

"Yeah. I got a job at the Cartwright restaurant."

Suddenly the spoon he's holding falls down to the floor, making a slight clanging sound. He doesn't pick it up. His eyes widen from my declaration and at the same time there is astonishment in them.

"You're working? Sweetheart, you know you don't have to, don't you?"

"I know. And I don't care because this is my decision," I tell him, crossing my arms.

"You don't need a job. I can support both of you and your sister," he says firmly. He walks over to me so that he looks quite big when he's standing close to me.

Ire builds in me. Who the hell does he think he is? "I'll be 18 soon, Haymitch," I snap. "So I'm practically turning into an adult soon."

"There's still time. Just let me do the job here," he insists.

"What job?" I retort. "You haven't started working on your boat like for five freaking years! And you expect we could rely on you?" I point out to the window that shows an old boat that barely floats in the water near a dock.

That boat used to be a magnificent, clean boat that he used to bring tourists around the whole island and he'd earn quite a lot of cash. I remember when I was younger, when I came here for the first time, he took me to the boat and we sailed around for a few hours and it was simply amazing. But somehow it ends up being a piece of crap that simply floats in the water. I don't even know how he manages to earn money after what happened to it.

He looks sad. "I'm still working on it," he simply says, his voice losing its energy.

I scoff and look away from him and then towards the window. "How long do you want me to wait? Til you finally ran out of money after buying those damn liquors? I don't think so." I start to stomp towards the door, not even bothered to eat my breakfast.

Before I let myself out, I hear him say, "I'll find more money to fix it, sweetheart. And I'll stop drinking. I promise." And then I shut the door behind me as well as his words.

On my way towards the restaurant, I welcome the feel of the cool breeze and smell of salty air because they at least can ease down my ire a little. I don't want my argument with Haymitch ruin my day. Not a chance. After walking a few blocks away from the house, I see a quite fancy restaurant that has the sign that shows me that I'm on the right track. I turn the smooth doorknob and slowly step inside. The room is so spacious and lots of tables with silky tablecloth and chairs arranged neatly in it. Golden chandeliers hanging on the ceiling fit the white colour of the wall. I immediately imagine how much money I'd gain from working in this place. I feel like I'm gonna hit a jackpot!

"Hey, Katniss. You're early." I hear an amused voice and I turn around.

Delly comes out from the kitchen with a white blouse tucked inside a black skirt and there's a nametag on the left side of her shirt, right above her left breast. Her blonde hair tied into a tidy ponytail. In her right hand, she's holding the same uniform that hangs in a hanger.

"Of course. It's my first day," I say with a smug, straightening the strap of my bag on my shoulder.

"Well, I guess you can start changing your clothes to your new uniform," she says.

I raise my eyebrows. "Can I just wear what I'm wearing right now?"

She playfully grins at me. "Sorry, Katniss. If you want the job, you gotta wear this." She gestures to her clothing. "And I'm still working on your nametag."

I sigh, infuriated. "Can I at least get a black blouse?"

She pushes me to the staff's restroom and hands me the uniform. "Not a chance."

A few minutes later, I get out of the restroom with my head hanging downwards. I am so not going to look at myself in the mirror. Since I don't like wearing a shirt with its entire buttons used, I let the top two buttons open and I make sure my cleavage isn't too exposed, and I'm not the type that wears something neatly so I let the blouse untucked. I also keep my sneakers on.

Delly gasps. "Oh my God. What have you done?"

I roll my eyes. "Please just at least let me wear it like this," I say a bit whiny. "Wearing this thing with the top buttons used and tucked inside this skirt makes me feel so cramped."

She lets a heavy breath, but not in annoyed way. "It's okay to me. I just hope my parents say okay."

"Me too."

Then the kitchen door opens again, and then comes a couple with similar blonde hair like hers with a bit tanner skin.

The woman greets me first with a soft voice, "Hello. Are you Katniss?"

I nod. "Yes, I am."

"I'm Delly's mother, Lily," she says, offering me her hand. "It's such a pleasure to meet you."

I try to keep my smile natural as I shake her hand. "Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Cartwright."

The man that looks like in his mid thirties also shakes my hand afterwards. "Tom Cartwright. I hope you're ready for your first day." He looks doubtful at the sight of my new clothes, and tries to make sure his voice sounds steady.

I say with a quite convincing voice, "I am ready. I won't let you down, Mr. Cartwright."

Delly then touches my shoulders. "I think we need to prepare with your expressions."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, frowning.

"We don't frown at our costumers."

"Oh."

"Try to smile."

I stretch the corners of my lips so that they form a smile.

"Show a bit of your teeth. And try to soften your eyebrows."

I do as she says.

"That's not so hard, isn't it?" She claps her hands.

I shrug. "I guess so."

Mrs. Cartwright calls us from the front door, holding the open/close sign that hangs on the door. "I hope you're ready Katniss because we're opening in a few more minutes."

I touch my braid to make sure it looks okay and then I smooth my blouse. Delly tightens her ponytail and adjusts her nametag.

I say. "It's showtime."

Then Mrs. Cartwright turns the sign to 'open'.

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**I'm not sure when I'll update the next chapter, but I've started working on it so I think it's gonna be within 3 days. Reviews make me smile.**


	9. Friends

**Okay, I lied. I said that I'd be updating the story within 3 days. But turns out I'm busier that I thought so there's a bit of delay here. Never mind that, the new chapter is here so, forgive me?**

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Once the doors open, the number of customers keeps on increasing. Delly hands me a pen and a notepad to write down the orders. Trying as hard as I can, I somehow manage to smile at them naturally and write down their orders on the paper, and then stick them to the kitchen's wall. Although it looks as if we have a thousand costumers today, Delly and I are able to take and serve their orders quickly, along with two other waitresses.

Eventually, I no longer feel awkward with this job and I find it actually comfortable and satisfied after looking at their smiles after doing my job well. Thank God my first day isn't so bad. I expected something unpleasant would happen, like getting tripped by a spilled drink or mad customers for serving too slow.

"Order table number six is up!" Our cook calls.

"Coming!" I answer, while listing down customers that consist of a married couple and their daughter. "So your orders are two sets of shrimps and a set of french fries, is that right?" I repeat their orders.

"Is this your first day, young lady?" The husband asks.

"Yes, that's right," I say, tearing the paper from the notepad to pass it to a kitchen staff.

"I think you're doing a great work. Keep up the good work, okay?"

I say, "Thank you. I'll do my best."

The daughter then cries happily, "I want ice-cream!"

I smile at her sweetly. "Let me see if there's some strawberry ice-cream left for you." And then she screams a loud 'yay' while raising her arms over head.

I walk towards the kitchen and ask, "Do we have some strawberry ice-cream? Someone from table thirteen orders for some." And then I sit down on a metal stool, completely exhausted.

Someone hands me a bottle of cold water and I look up to see Delly smiling down at me. "How's your first day going?"

Taking the bottle, I tell her, "Pretty good. It's good to see the looks of the happy customers."

"That's one of the reasons why I like this job," she confesses.

"How long have you been working as a waitress?"

"Ever since I was 15. At first I was scared I'd be bad at it 'cause sometimes I can be so clumsy."

"You're lucky, you know? You don't have to worry about getting a job once you finish studying."

She smiles shyly. "I guess so. If you'd like, you can work here as long as you want."

"Thanks, Delly."

"Hey, newbie! We've got another customer to serve here!" Shouts a waitress named Johanna.

She's three years older than us and has a short dark hair. Unlike us, she doesn't wear a uniform, instead she wears a thin blouse that is unbuttoned on the top three buttons so that her black bikini is revealed, and a pair of denim shorts that barely reach her mid thighs. I don't really like her attitude in which she likes to make fun of me because I'm new.

"Coming!" I shout back.

I'm about to get up when Delly pats my shoulder gently. She gives me a small smile. "You'll get used to her. Her mouth may be foul, but she's actually a nice person."

"I hope I'm tolerant enough to see that side of her one day."

I take out my pen and notepad from my breast pocket and walk to table number fourteen. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to be their server because these guys look like a bunch of douchebags. One of them has a short dark hair and dark blue eyes, wearing a tight black tank top, revealing some large tattoos on his naked arms and a pair of dark three-quartered shorts. His friend shares the same look as his, only that he has a brown hair with sea green eyes.

When I stand close to their table, the dark haired guy blows a flirty whistle. "Hey there, gorgeous. New in town? The name's Sam."

I try my best not to throw my fist on to his face by ignoring his words. "Welcome to Cartwright Diner. May I take your order?"

"Ooooh. That's one velvety voice you've got there, honey," says the other guy. "What's your name?"

I hold my pen so tight that it's gonna break in two. "Sir, I'm doing my job. Please tell me your order?"

The dark haired guy stands up and walks dangerously close to me. "Actually, at first I wanna order for something sweet. But I guess I'll have a cute brunette waitress to do something about my hunger," he whispers while licking his lips, brushing a strand of my hair from my eyes and then looks at my exposed chest.

I immediately jump back from his actions, gritting my teeth in disgust. "What the hell are you doing?" I retort, ignoring the way I speak.

The brown haired guy stands up too. And then he teasingly says, "Feisty. I like it."

The guy named Sam then reaches out and grabs my wrist with a strong grip. "Why don't you come with us and have some fun?"

"Let go of me!" I try one more time to yank my hand from his grip, but he's just too strong. I believe we've caught all of the customers' attentions, but none of them are trying to help.

And then there's a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. "Why don't you leave the girl alone before you get hurt?" A strong voice says behind him.

Sam turns around to see the stranger and I do the same. Peeta stands behind him with an angry look on his face. I hear Sam make a mocking sound.

"Trying to get the spotlight, huh? Why don't you get your sorry ass out of someone's business?" He says, removing Peeta's hand from his shoulder.

"I'll say it one more time; leave her alone," he repeats with a stronger voice.

"Or what?" he challenges.

The brown haired guy starts to make a cracking sound with his knuckles as he slowly walks towards Peeta. I know the situation is turning bad so I walk over to Peeta and hold his arm to pull him back.

"What are you doing? You're gonna get hurt," I mumble to him, but he doesn't respond to me. Why am I worried if he's getting hurt anyway?

Both of the douchebags are coming closer to us, and I feel his arm protectively backing me. Why is he doing this? Why would he try to get into trouble for me?

"What's going on here?" I hear a familiar voice coming from the front doors. We both turn around to see Gale and Madge standing there.

Then Finnick comes with a girl with a dark hair holding his hand. "If you're picking a fight with our buddy, you'll have to fight with us as well."

Sam makes an annoyed 'tsk' sound and then retreats by striding pass us.

Peeta then walks over to Gale and Finnick, saying, "Thanks for backing me up, guys."

Gale bumps his fist against his. "No problem, dude. Wouldn't like to see our friend get beat up."

"Besides, we hate those guys," Finnick says, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulder. He then smiles at me and gestures to her. "By the way, Katniss. This is my girlfriend, Annie."

"Hi, Katniss. It's nice to finally meet you. Finnick told me about you once," she says, offering her hand.

I take it and shake it gently. "Hi Annie. He has told me about you as well."

"He did?"

"Of course I did," he assures. "I want to tell everyone that I have a wonderful girlfriend like you." He then bends over to kiss her.

Peeta then turns to me and asks, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the help anyway," I say.

"Anytime. You should be careful next time," he warns.

Then Mr. Cartwright comes out from the manager room and walks towards us.

"What happened?" He demands.

I don't know how to begin so the only thing I come up with is, "Uh…"

"It's Sam and Jake, Mr. Cartwright," Peeta says.

Mr. Cartwright exhales a heavy breath, running a hand through his hair. "Those rascals came again? When will they stop making a fuss?" He then looks at with concern. "Did they do anything to you, Katniss?"

"They tried to flirt with me, but Peeta and the others saved me," I tell him.

He then shakes his hand in gratitude. "Thank you so much for helping my new employee. Have a seat and help yourselves."

Peeta, Gale, Madge, Finnick and Annie are then leaded to a table for five people and then he leaves them to me to take their orders.

Peeta orders for fish and chips, Gale asks for shrimps to share with his girlfriend while Finnick orders a lobster with Annie.

"Who were those guys?" I ask, curious.

Finnick answers, "Sam and Jake. They're just some local rascals who like to cause trouble. I heard they've been arrested a few times for stealing. I guess that wasn't enough to change them."

Gale adds, "They also like to sleep with random girls."

I frown with that statement. I don't get why these kind of guys exist. What's the benefit of having meaningless sex with random girls? It' just simply stupid.

"Anyway, thanks for helping me, guys. I appreciate it," I mutter.

"That's what friends for, isn't it?" Peeta says. "Just tell us if they try to flirt with you next time."

I chuckle, "What are you, some kind of bodyguards?"

He shrugs, "maybe."

All of us let out a laugh, and then I have to return to the kitchen. Delly jogs towards me, looking worried.

"Katniss, what happened? I heard Sam and Jake tried to flirt with you? Did they do anything to you?"

I pat her shoulder to calm her down. "Relax. I'm okay. Some friends came and helped me," I say, pointing towards their table with my thumb.

She looks at them. "You made friends pretty quickly."

"I'll have to thank you and Peeta for introducing me to them."

She flashes a satisfied smile. "Your welcome."

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**I hope you like this chapter. It's nice to see that Katniss has good friends, right? Sometimes I wish I have friends like them. Sam and Jake are just random characters that I made up, but they're just minor characters in this story. I also hope you like protective Peeta, 'cause he'll be more protective in the next chapters. Reviews make me smile.**


	10. Rue's entrance

***Knock knock* *Creeps out from a door* Is anyone there? I know I've left you for a long time and I'm really begging you not to shoot me, stab me, decapitate me or do whatever cruel killing method you can think of. I'm really focusing on finishing my story 'Hunger Games: High School Life' and writing the first three chapters of my new story. But now I'm back, let's get back to the story, shall we? Please enjoy it even though this is just a filler chapter.**

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Thank God my shift is over by four because I don't want to spend too much time at work and leave Prim all by herself at home. In the changing room, I put away my uniform and replace it with my previous clothes.

"Hope you live by tomorrow, newbie," Johanna says as she finishes changing.

I glare at her for a while until she leaves.

"You'll get used to her soon, Katniss," Delly says, patting my shoulder to cheer me up.

"Yeah, I've heard that before," I mutter. I don't mean it to sound rude, but apparently she looks hurt. "Sorry, but she's just getting on my nerves."

She sighs. "You're not alone; we all do."

I chuckle with that statement. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

I turn to leave when she calls me back. "Do you have anything to do tomorrow?"

"Not really. But Peeta's gonna teach me surfing after work."

"You're gonna go after four? But that's pretty late isn't it?" She puts a finger on her chin. "How about this; you leave a bit early and I'll take over your shift."

Surprised with her generosity, I ask, "Will that be okay with your parents? I mean I've just started working today."

She shrugs my statement with a simple shake on the head. "I promise it'll be okay. Besides, my parents like you. Just promise that you'll complete your shift the next time you work."

I'm not much of a hugger, but I can't help but feel grateful so I give her a friendly hug. "Thanks, Delly. I owe you one."

"Anytime. See you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. See you." I wave goodbye at her.

On my way home, I walk pass the beach again, and this time I realize that it's not as crowded as usual. The only ones that present are the lifeguards sitting on their chairs, two or three families playing in the water with little kids around the age of three to four. _Well, that's odd._

But I don't stay that long to see why, so I carry on my journey to Haymitch's house. When I arrive to the house, I find the door locked. Between the front door and floor, there's a note lying there. I take it and start to read.

_Katniss, I'm going out around the town with my friend, Rue. Sorry for leaving without telling you. Please don't get worried. I'll be back really right soon. I hope you have the spare key with you._

_Love, Prim._

I sigh. I'm not upset because I don't have the key. To be exact, I do have it. I'm upset because my thirteen-year old sister has made a new friend but she didn't tell me about it, and then went out without telling me. And besides, we just settled down at Wrightsville for less than a week, and I'm worried if she gets lost or something bad happens to her. I want to start looking for her, but where should I start? Moreover, I'm too exhausted to walk around the town, so I just have to have faith with my sister and her friend. I really need to buy her a phone.

Retrieving the spare key from my back pocket, I unlock the door. It feels kind of strange when the house is empty. Usually either Prim or Haymitch would sit on one of the couches and watch TV. Now that I'm alone in the house, I don't know what to do. I sigh in exhaustion as I take a seat and turn the television on and change the channel to HBO and they're playing Beastly. It's close to the ending so I decide to watch it.

Half an hour later, after Alex Pettyfer kisses Vanessa Hudgens, the witch comes to Kyle's dad's office and then the credit roll appears and I switch the TV off. I don't know why, but somehow I begin to wonder, is it possible to actually fall in love and live happily ever after? Not that I'm interested to fall heads over heels on a guy or something, it's just that I find it ridiculous when a person has a crush on someone they like, become a couple, hooking up and then finally gets dumped. Most people that I know end up like that. Except Gale and Madge, and Finnick and Annie, of course.

I'm glad that since I'm too busy working and taking care of Prim, I don't think I'll meet some guy and have a crush on him. I don't want to end up like my old friends in New York. So far the only single guy I met from her is Peeta, and with his looks I'm sure he's a chick magnet. Most girls in town like him but me. I don't intend to anyway.

All of a sudden the front door opens, interfering my train of thoughts, and Prim comes in the picture with a dark haired girl who looks in the same age of her.

"Hey, Katniss. You're back," Prim says with a smile.

I walk over to her and kiss her hair. "Hey. Where did you go? I got a little worried about you."

She puts her hands on her hips. "I thought I said not to worry about me in the note."

I give her a small smile and brush her hair softly. "Next time, if you want to go somewhere, tell me before I leave."

She sighs. "Okay. Oh, by the way, this is Rue. I met her at the carnival that day." She points to the girl.

Rue gives me a big smile and waves at me."Hi, Katniss. I'm Rue. Prim has told me lots of things about you."

I try to give her the best smile I can give despite my exhaustion. "Hi, Rue. It's nice to meet you. Thank you for accompanying Prim to town."

"No problem. I like to take anyone to town, especially Prim." She hooks an arm around Prim's, implying that they're already close friends.

"Well, that's nice of you. Are you going to stay for dinner?" I ask, retreating to the kitchen and check on the refrigerator to look for something to eat.

She shakes her head from the corner of my eyes. "No, thanks. I have to go now. My parents are maybe getting worried. So I'll see you tomorrow, Prim."

"Okay. Bye," my sister mutters and waves at Rue as she exits the house. Then she looks at me expectantly. "So, how's your first day at work?"

I slump lazily on the couch. "It was okay. Until some thugs came and disturbed me."

Her eyes twinkle in curiosity as she rushes to sit beside me. "What did you do after that? Beat them into pulps?"

I shake my head. "Nope. Before I could even do anything, Peeta and his friends came and shooed those guys away."

And then she smirks and tries to hide her grin by covering it.

I quirk my eyebrow. "What?"

"Peeta came to rescue you?" She giggles.

"So?"

"He's growing on you." She giggles louder this time.

I feel myself blushing. Wait- what? Why the hell am I blushing? "He simply shooed those guys away because he's my friend! That doesn't mean he's growing on me."

She teases. "Oh yeah? I have a feeling he might did it more than as a friend."

I irritably cross my arms. "That's it. This conversation is over."

But her laugh doesn't stop. And then Haymitch comes in with handful of two bags of KFC.

"Dinner's here!" He says gleefully.

Prim squeals happily and rushes towards him to take one of the plastic bags. That night I have the most irritating dinner thanks to my sister.

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**Alright, people! Things might get closer between Katniss and Peeta in the next chapter since it will be the surfing lesson chapter. Anyone excited for that? I'm currently writing the chapter so it shouldn't take that long to update (I hope). Reviews make me smile.**


	11. Surfing lesson

**Hey, guys. Apparently, I'm still alive (thankfully) so there's no excuse for my absence except for that freaking virus in my laptop. I really want to update as frequent as I can but I have to use my sister's laptop to do so, which is a bit troublesome. Please bear with me with this problem, okay? I promise I won't leave this story hanging.**

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"Wake up, Katniss!" I hear Prim calling me. I immediately pull my blanket over my head so that I'm fully covered from her deafening call.

"Today you have a date! You can't be late!" She chirps as she bursts into my room, and then yanks on the blanket.

I sit up on the bed and glare at her. "First of all, it's not a date. Secondly, don't just barge into my room. I might mistook you as Haymitch and strike you."

"Whatever," she mumbles. "The thing is, let's get you ready."

"Ready for what? I'm just going to surf, not dating." I yawn, wiping my one of my sleepy eyes.

"Which is why we must buy a bikini for you," she states.

"What!" That really got my attention.

"Oh come on. You barely own any swimsuit. To be exact, the only 'swimsuit' you have is a simple T-shirt and some shorts," she counters, making an invisible quotation mark with her fingers when she mentions my clothing for swimming.

Not that I'm concerned about it or anything. But she's quite right. Going for a swim isn't my thing, so I haven't bought a swimsuit for years.

"Why should I buy one anyway? It's not like I want to impress Peeta or something," I grumble, crossing my arms.

"I know. But I'm doing this so that I'll win the bet," she mutters and then pulls me out of the bed and then into the bathroom. "By the way, we're not just going to buy one swimsuit. We're going to but _lots_ of them." And she closes the door, leaving me in silence.

When I finish my shower, I put on a green tank top and a pair of black shorts. Prim and Haymitch are already in the kitche, eating a bowl of cereal. I join them and pour some milk on my cereal.

"Uncle Haymitch, can Katniss and I go shopping today?" She pleads with her big, cute blue eyes.

"I think that's a great idea. You two haven't gone out together since you moved in. Except for the carnival of course," he states, eyeing at me accusingly.

"What?" I snap.

"Certainly that's your fault for always leaving the house in the morning," he says.

"Well, excuse me for being too busy looking for a job," I retort.

"I told you that I'll take care of you from now on, didn't I? I promise I'm working on it."

I sigh. I know we're going nowhere in this conversation even though I already have a job. So I eat my breakfast quietly while Prim tries to cheer the awkward atmosphere by telling him our plans for later. Well, more like just her plans.

I feel a vibration on my pocket and I grab my phone. A text from Peeta.

_Let's meet up at the beach at 10. I'll be sitting on a yellow chair. Hope you're excited as I am :D_

_P.S: Wear something nice, okay?_

I chuckle. I can't believe it. We went out once and he's already feeling comfortable enough to say like that to me. But in a strange way, I like it. I reply to him, although I know he's going to barely wear anything.

_You wear something nice as well. :)_

Another text from him comes in a few seconds later.

_Don't worry about that ;)_

Prim puts her hands on the table and leans forward to peek on my phone. But I won't let her see it. "Is that a text from Peeta?"

"Yeah," I say.

"What did he say?" She excitedly asks. Her eyes gleaming with thrill.

"He's gonna meet me at the beach at 10," I tell her.

Haymitch coughs out his cereal. "You're going out with Peeta?" He gasps.

Prim rushes over to pat his back.

"Yes but not as in, _dating,_" I press on that one word that doesn't exist in my dictionary. "He's gonna teach me how to surf."

His face tenses and makes both worried and perplexed expression. "Isn't he a bit… more social than you?"

"I told you, it's just a surfing lesson," I maintain my answer firmly.

He sips his juice again. "I guess that's okay then."

I bite my lip out of embarrassment as Prim snickers behind him as she rubs his back continuously. "C'mon, Katniss. We gotta hurry. Time's ticking," she points out to the clock. 8.30.

"Okay. Let's go," I grumble, lifting up my bowl to the sink.

"Never mind the dishes. You girls go and have fun," he mutters, sounding surprisingly happy.

She pecks him on the cheek. "Thank you Uncle Haymitch. We'll be back soon."

I go up to my room in a swift and grab my purse and pack a towel and a change of clothes. When I come back down, my sister's already at the front porch. We walk down to the streets until we reach the swimsuit shop. We begin to search for nice bikinis for me though I don't have any idea which one suits me perfectly. I spot some bikinis with flower patterns, another with shades of light blue and white, and plain black ones.

"Excuse me, do you need some help?" Asks a saleswoman who looks like she's around her late-twenties.

"Yeah. Which one of the clothes you have can actually fit me?"

"Well, my dear. I'm sure you'd fit in anything." Typical thing a salesperson would say. "But I believe this one fits you perfectly." She digs out an emerald-green bikini among the pile. How on earth she knew green is my favourite colour? I sure as hell have no idea.

Nevertheless it looks quite nice though. It's not so flashy or sexy, or full of designs. It's just plain simple with two laces to make a knot at the back.

"Hey, that looks pretty nice," Prim says, appearing from a fitting room. I notice two or three shirts in her hands.

"Where've you been? I thought it was your idea to buy me a swimsuit," I whine.

"Sorry. I saw some cute clothes when we entered the shop and I can't resist trying them on."

I try my best not to roll my eyes at my shopaholic sister. "So what do you think? Should I buy this one?" I ask.

She studies the bikini carefully, resting a finger on her chin. "Well it's your favourite colour and it's not so designed, so I think that's a perfect first choice."

"Okay. I'll take it," I tell the satisfied-looking saleswoman. "Along with those clothes."

"Katniss! I haven't decided which one to choose," she exclaims.

"Don't worry," I assure her. "Just take them all. I know they all will look good on you. And I don't think you'd let one of them slip from you anyway."

She puts the clothes on the counter desk and hugs me by the waist. "Thanks, Katniss. You're the best sister in the whole world," she mumbles with a huge grin.

I can't help but smile and hug her back loosely. "Okay, don't get too excited," I chuckle.

We look for more swimsuits for me after that, and finally we are able to find those that suit my taste; a sky-blue bikini and an orange one with a tiny ribbon on the front, both are pretty simple-designed.

After I paid for the clothes, it's already around 9.48. Prim decides to accompany me to the beach until I see Peeta, though I have the feeling she actually wants to see him in person. Which makes it easier for me not to describe his appearance to her.

At the beach, it's not very crowded so it's slightly easier to find Peeta. Just like he promised, he's sitting on a yellow chair, with a surfboard standing beside him. I walk over behind him silently with Prim slowly following my trail. Apparently he hasn't realized that I'm here.

Feeling somewhat bold, I sneakily snatch his juice from the sand next to him. His hand stretches grab but only feels the sand. Prim and I snicker at him. He tips his shade to have a clearer view of his drink stealer. His lips turn into an amused grin to see me. I feel myself flush with the sight of him only in a pair of red shorts. Once again, I can't avoid my eyes from admiring his well-defined chest and amazing abs.

As if he knows that I'm actually gawking at him, he brushes his blonde hair back with his hand. "Hey, you look… nice," he comments after eyeing at me with a cocked eyebrow.

"Shut up. I'm not even in my swimming suit yet," I say. "Oh and by the way, this is Prim."

"Hi, Prim. Katniss talked about you once. It's a pleasure to finally see you in person," he says with a beaming smile.

"Well, the pleasure's all mine," she replies. "She also told me about you. Non-stop, to be exact."

"I do not!" I exclaim.

Her lips form a teasing smirk. "Yeah? Then why are you blushing?"

"I'm not blushing! It's just the heat, okay?" I justify.

But unfortunately Peeta's in for the game as well. "Really? But I've been here longer than you, so why aren't you I as red as you?"

I groan in frustration. How can they make a good teamwork even though they just met? "Are we doing this or not?"

Both of them start to snigger. "Well, I'll be leaving now. Have fun, Katniss," Prim says giddily, winking at me. "It's nice to meet you Peeta."

"Nice to meet you too, Prim," he replies. "See you again soon."

With that she trots back towards the street and waves at us before heading back to our house.

"What a wonderful sister you have," he accolades

"Flattering will get you nowhere, Mellark," I mutter, glaring at him.

He spreads his arms innocently. "Come on. A little joke won't hurt, right?"

I roll my eyes. "Fine. Stay here. I'm going to change." I leave to the nearest changing tent and quickly strip down from my shirt and shorts and put on the green bikini. I exit the tent and walk straight back to Peeta's chair and lay my bag there.

"Okay, let's get started," I say enthusiastically while stretching my arms as a warm-up, feeling excited as my skin feels the warmth of the sun and the cool breeze at the same time.

He turns back towards me then and his eyes widen and his mouth agape. He struggles to speak as his hands gesture at my body. So much for Mr. Smooth Talker.

"Cat got your tongue?" I grin cockily.

He clears his throat to keep cool of his composure. "You look better. No, that would be an understatement. You look amazing!"

I scoff. "Thanks."

He grabs his surfboard and jogs towards the water and I follow behind him. The water feels warm and great and I feel more pumped up to get started.

"Right, so the first thing we need to do is work on your balance," he instructs as he puts his board on the water. "Can you get on the board?"

I do as he says and easily climb on the board and steadily sit on it, trying to get used to the wavy position. I decide to give him a bit of caution. "Just to tell you, Mellark. I'll be the worst student you will ever have," I warn him as I look down at him next to me.

He gives me a confident smile. "Just to tell you, Everdeen. I'll be the best teacher you ever have. Now, lie on the board and use your arms to paddle yourself towards the wave."

I carefully lean forward so that my front body lies on the board. Using my arms as paddles, I feel myself slowly drift forward. I hear a clapping sound behind me and I stop to look back at him with a smile. Next he swims towards me and tells me to try to stand up on the board. He holds the board to steady it. Very vigilantly, I push myself up and stand on my feet with arms spread like a bird.

When people say looking is easier than actually doing something, it's absolutely true. Just a few seconds after I stand up, I slip on some water on the board and fall on him. Before we splash into the water together, I feel his arms wrap around my body protectively. Both of us surface the water at the same time with a loud gasp. Normally people would feel a bit panicked or frustrated, but instead I let out a shrilled laugh.

I laugh? When was the last time I laughed like this? I can't remember, and I don't mind because it's the best feeling I've had so far. It looks like I'm not the only one who's laughing because Peeta's laughter is a lot louder than mine. We laugh together like that for while, completely forgetting that we're not alone.

I don't realize that his arms are still around me and mine are somehow around his neck, and our face are so close to each other that I can feel his breath once he stops laughing. Time feels like it has stopped and all I can focus on is his wet blonde hair, his gleaming blue orbs and that smile that he always wears. His eyes seem to inspect my face as well. There we are, staring at each other in the water with the waves lap at us gently. Unconsciously, one of my hands slithers from his neck to his wet curls and my fingers tangle them. My breath becomes heavy as I get lost in his deep blue eyes, and I think that I'm leaning forward to be closer to him. What is this warmth that I feel radiating inside me? What is this guy doing to me? Why do I feel like kissing him here and right now?

He breaks my stupor when he asks, "Do you want to continue? On the balancing?"

"Huh? Uh… yeah," I stammer. "S-sure." Very awkwardly, I untangle my hands from him and he does the same.

"Let's try again until you got it, okay?"

I nod, hiding my blush by rubbing my face, pretending to wipe some water off. And so we continue working on my balance. During the practice, there are lots of splash of water, shrieks that come from me and Peeta's laughter. There's a part of me that strangely wishes the moment will never end. The moment where Peeta is in it. At the same time I wonder, what did I get myself into?

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**Whoop! There it is! Looks like Katniss has showed some affection towards Peeta. (Cue cheering please!) Look out people, things are getting pretty heated up soon. However the next update will be very slow (You have been warned) due to my Malay and English oral exam on the 8****th**** and 24****th**** of April. Not to mention my project's presentation and final judgment will be on the 13****th****. But please, pretty please leave some reviews. Reviews make me smile.**


	12. Look who's here

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews on the previous chapter. I'm so glad to know that you guys haven't given up on me yet. So as a reward, I've posted the chapter in the middle of my exam, so enjoy!**

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Thanks to his huge tolerance of my continuous failed attempts, Peeta manages to make me stand properly on his board after a few falls, much to my own surprise. He still has his on hands on the board though.

"I'm gonna let it go now, okay?" He asks, making sure that I'm perfectly ready.

I nod lightly and he lets go. I wait for any wobbling movement from the waves and my feet. But nothing happens. I'm standing in a faultless balance despite there are still tiny waves that can cause a downfall even in the slightest off-balance.

"I did it!" I yell triumphantly, raising my arms as if I was the king- queen of the world.

"Excellent job, Katniss," he says, rewarding me with another round of applause and a huge smile of his.

"Thanks," I say, tucking a strand of wet hair behind my ear. "Looks like you're not half bad as a teacher."

"Same goes for you," he replies. "You're not such a bad student." I laugh softly. "Shall we continue from the start again until the part where you ride the wave?"

I shake my head, and then playfully hop down onto the water, splashing water on his face. "You know what? I think I'd prefer to take a short break first. I don't think my mouth would be delighted to have more salty water." I grimace with the memory of how seawater tastes.

He chuckles after wiping water from his face. "Very well. Let's find something to quench your thirst." He pulls the rope that is attached to his board so that it drifts back to him.

We swim to shore and head straight to the nearest stall. I try my best to ignore watchful eyes from the people around us. I hear them mumble something like, "Who is that bitch?" "What is she doing with Peeta?" and stuff that you always hear when a guy who you have hots on is with another girl.

"What do you want to drink?" He asks me, pointing to a displayed menu on top of the stall.

"Which one do you recommend?"

He makes a thinking gesture by putting his hand on his hip and cocks an eyebrow. "Well, I would suggest Coke since you like that drink. But I don't think that's healthy."

I stare at him inquisitively. "Excuse me?"

He looks at me in disbelief. "Don't you know that it can cause obesity? Even death, if consumed constantly." He then makes a horrified expression.

"I know about the obesity fact. But not death."

"Well now you know," he says. "Now, maybe I should suggest you try one of the slushies."

I nod and look through the menu, and then immediately the most delicious looking slushie. "I'll take the strawberry slushie."

From the corner of my eyes, I catch a glimpse of him smiling. "Then I'll have the milk tea."

The server hands over our drinks, and then we drink as we take a walk along the beach. We talk about minor things like the types of colour that we like, what's our hobby, and stuff that you want to know from a new friend.

And then we see Finnick jogging towards us, shirtless. "Dude, where've you been?" He asks Peeta.

"I was teaching Katniss surfing," he answers him.

Finnick tilts his dark shades to his forehead to reveal his green eyes. His lips curve into a teasing smirk. "Wow, teaching a girl how to surf? That's new." He turns his attention to me. "How fun was surfing with Peeta, Katniss?"

I take another slurp of my slushie. "I find it unexpectedly fun."

He elbows Peeta on the rib playfully. "Did you hear that, buddy? She just said it was fun."

Peeta then shoves him back. "Get your dirty mind away from us, Finn. So why were you looking for me?"

"Oh yeah. Some newbies wanted to have a match with us," he says, pointing his thumb to some guys behind him.

Peeta makes a face that says are-you-kidding-me. "Are you sure they want to have a match with US? I mean, I don't want to upset them when they lose."

"Here's a piece of advice," I interrupt, raising a finger. Both of them stare at me intriguingly. "Don't get too confident."

Peeta chuckles, "Says the girl who was confident that she'd be an ace in surfing in one lesson."

I hit his arm and glare at him. "I learnt it in the hard way, okay?"

"Okay," he says, still smiling. "Do you mind waiting for me? This might take a little while."

"No. I don't think my class is over yet, and besides I'd like to see you play," I tell him.

Surprisingly, his smile brightens with my declaration. "Great. Can you hold my drink while you're at it? Thanks."

With that he jogs towards the volleyball field alongside with Finnick. I take my time following behind them. I stand close by once we arrive at the field, slurping my drink thirstily. Soon afterwards, we are surrounded with a group of audience. I guess that's what fame does. A referee takes a seat beside the net and blows the whistle, and Finnick starts the game by throwing the ball. A loud roar of cheering follows soon afterwards.

I can't take my eyes off Peeta. He leaps on to the air gracefully and when his body glistened with sweat, he looks more handsome. And that focused expression on his face and flexed muscles in his arm make him look more… hotter. Oh my God, since when did I become so observant about guys?

The match becomes more heated by the middle of the game. The new guys are already tired, you can see from the way they are panting heavily and they look as if they're gonna pass out anytime soon. Finnick is walking in circles with his arms raised up for more applause.

I look back at Peeta. He looks perfectly fine, no sign of exhaustion at all. As if sensing me staring at him, he stares back at me and then boldly winks an eye and then waves at me. I feel my cheeks burn, but I manage a smile and wave back.

The game continues and I decide to let my ears rest for a while. I squish my way through the crowd and turn around to make sure he doesn't realize me leaving. I wander nearby the field. I stop when I hear a familiar voice.

"Hey, Kitty."

Shit. Cato.

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**Dun dun dun dunnn! Yup, by now I'm sure you can't wait to read the next chapter, which I'm still working on. Reviews make me smile.**


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